“Aazad” adliya ka faisla … and I again rest my case 
Bhutto had set up ISI political cell: SC verdict
**ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court says it has been established on record that the then prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto created a political cell in the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) under an executive order issued in May 1975.
**The detailed judgment on Asghar Khan’s petition, released on Thursday, said that one of the ISI wings was assigned to perform political duties. Presumably, it could have been anything with respect to this aspect except to assist the federal government in its political affairs.
Despite the court’s repeated directions, the relevant notification was not produced and it had been withheld, the ruling said.It added that as far as the functions of intelligence sharing on strategic matters by the ISI was concerned; the armed forces are discharging their functions to defend Pakistan against internal and external aggression, according to Article 243 of the Constitution.
The judgment said that the apex court while exercising its jurisdiction to ascertain as to whether the fundamental rights of voters under Article 17(2) of the Constitution are violated or not, is not supposed to delve into this aspect.
However, it strongly noticed, while looking back towards the historical aspect, in pursuance whereof at various times, martial law was imposed by the armed forces, derailing the democratic system. A duly elected representative being the prime minister under no circumstances has power to encourage any political or unconstitutional activities of the ISI, the decision said.
In response thereto, the judgment said, the ISI director general, with full knowledge and information of the then Chief of Army Staff (COAS), with illegal orders, blocked the flow of democratic order instead of allowing the citizens and voters to elect their chosen representatives freely, fairly and justly. Such action by uniformed army generals not only violated discipline but also brought a bad name to the institution while their action negated the constitutional mandate on the subject, it added.
Thus, the judgment said, having covered a long distance, during which Pakistan was faced with unconstitutional era and judiciary was also being alleged to support military adventurers, ultimately, for all times to come, the judiciary as an institution decided not to support any unconstitutional regime in future. The object is to strengthen the institutions of the Parliament and democratic system of government as envisaged by the Constitution, wherein the state is to exercise its powers and authority through the chosen representatives of the people.
The ruling said that it may be seen that the military regimes besides derailing the parliamentary system from time to time also mutilated constitutional provisions, particularly, with reference to instant case, by introducing Article 58(2)(b) by the 8th and 17th constitutional amendments.
It said that by means of these amendments, the president was made stronger and the parliamentary system converted into semi-presidential type, as instead of strengthening the prime minister, who is the chief executive and Leader of the House in the National Assembly, the powers were shifted to the president, who was empowered to dissolve the National Assembly.
Historically, the judgment said, there is no gainsaying that the office of the President both during military and civil governments has been indulging in politics. There have been constitutional deviations from time to time due to which parliamentary system was weakened and could not flourish in Pakistan as envisaged by the Constitution.
The decision gave a graphic detail of the historical background in which the 1990 general elections were held.
On August 17, 1988, COAS General Ziaul Haq, who imposed martial law on July 7, 1977 and later assumed the office of president died in C-130 airplane crash carrying top military brass of the time and some other notable international figures few moments before his arrival at the Bahawalpur Military Airbase.
General Mirza Aslam Beg, the then Vice COAS, was also flying to Bahawalpur but in a separate plane and survived. The same day, Ghulam Ishaq Khan (GIK), the then Senate Chairman, was sworn in as the acting president and Beg was made COAS. On November 16, 1988, general elections were held and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which captured the largest number of seats in the National Assembly in comparison to other parties, formed the federal government.
GIK was elected as the new president. Political differences arose between the president and the elected Benazir Bhutto government. On August 6, 1990, the president, using his discretionary powers under Article 58(2)(b), which was inserted by the 8th Amendment, dissolved the National Assembly and dismissed the government on the ground that the federation was not being carried out in accordance with the Constitution. The dissolution was challenged before the Supreme Court and it was upheld.
The ruling also recalled that Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi was appointed as the caretaker prime minister and fresh elections were scheduled to be held on October 24, 1990. A 9-party electoral alliance, Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI), won the largest parliamentary seats and formed the government with Nawaz Sharif as the prime minister.
On April 19, 1993 GIK again invoked Article 58(2)(b) and dissolved the National Assembly on the grounds and allegations of maladministration, corruption, nepotism etc. This led once again to forming an interim government headed by caretaker Prime Minister Balakh Sher Mazari. The dissolution order was challenged before the Supreme Court wherein the exercise of power by the president’s discretionary power was held to be unconstitutional.
In consequence, the judgment said, the National Assembly and the government were restored. However, as the political standoff continued, the president dissolved the National Assembly on the advice of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and proceeded on leave as part of the political arrangement. This time, Waseem Sajjad, the then Chairman Senate, became the acting president while Moeen Qureshi, a banker from New York, was appointed as the caretaker prime minister. Elections were held on October 6, 1993 and the PPP emerged as the biggest winner of seats in the National Assembly and formed government with Benazir Bhutto as the prime minister.
Farooq Leghari, a PPP political worker, was elected as the new president. On November 6, 1996, he too invoked Article 58(2)(b) and dissolved the National Assembly on various charges and allegations.
On November 11, 1996, while the PPP government was in office, Maj-Gen (R) Nasirullah Babar, the then Minister for Interior, made a speech in the National Assembly wherein he presented an affidavit dated July 24, 1994, sworn by the former ISI chief Lt-Gen (R) Asad Durrani wherein it was asserted that different sums of money were disbursed to various politicians and political parties forming part of IJI to enable them to win elections. At the time of making affidavit, Durrani was posted as Ambassador in Germany.
He stated in the affidavit that in September 1990 while he was posted as ISI chief, he received instructions from Beg “to provide logistic support to the disbursement of donation made by some businessmen of Karachi to the election campaign of IJI”.