ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday fixed February 29 to hear the petition filed by Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Asghar Khan 16 years ago pertaining to Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) distributing money among politicians.
Meanwhile, the former ISI chief Gen. (retd) Durrani submitted an affidavit confirming the accusation.
The petition has called upon the apex court to punish the politicians and political groups who have been receiving pots of money from the agency.
Various politicians had demanded the petition to be heard.
Air Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan, in 1996, wrote a letter to then chief justice Nasim Hasan Shah against former army chief Mirza Aslam Baig, former ISI chief Lt-General (retd) Asad Durrani and Younis Habib of Habib and Mehran Banks, relating to the disbursement of public money and its misuse for political purposes.
Re: SC to hear Asghar Khan’s 16 yrs old plea on Feb 29
Just laugh at this all .
Reward for Asghar Khan for being Lota in old age .
Pasha ki batain aap bhi mana karo .
A lesson for Nawaz
result of consulting SC directly .
Re: SC to hear Asghar Khan’s 16 yrs old plea on Feb 29
Just laugh at this all .
Reward for Asghar Khan for being Lota in old age .
Pasha ki batain aap bhi mana karo .
A lesson for Nawaz
result of consulting SC directly .
AP uncle, please explain. I'm not good at guessing paheliyan.
Re: SC to hear Asghar Khan’s 16 yrs old plea on Feb 29
Ye supreme court hai ya morning show.
Ordinary peoples cases are pending for years while these political tidbits are being heard daily.
The SC's job is not to hear each and every person's case. In the west, the SC is selective in hearing cases and cases go through county, state and appellete courts before they end up at SC (if they do).
**ISI says it distributed millions among Pak politicians
ISLAMABAD:** **In a startling disclosure, Pakistan’s ISI has admitted in the court that it had distributed huge amount of money to political parties and leaders including former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, Zafarullah Jamali and Mohammad Khan Junejo.
The distribution of money was not confined to former prime ministers, but transcended political affiliations to include the likes of Pir Pagaro, Abida Hussain, Lt Gen Rafaqat and tribal leaders Humayun Marri, Nadir Mengal and Hasil Bizenjo.
The revelation was made by Pakistan’s former chief justice Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui, who said this case was still pending with the country’s Supreme Court since 1999.
He said the sensational disclosures were made in an affidavit filed in the court by former ISI chief Lt Gen (retd.) Asad Durrani.
The Daily Times quoted Siddiqui telling a private TV channel that millions of rupees were distributed during former President Ghulam Ishaq Khan’s regime and ostensibly to convince political leaders to join the then Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI).
The IJI, headed by Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, was formed in September 1988 to oppose the Pakistan People’s Party in elections. The alliance comprised nine parties, of which the major components were the Pakistan Muslim League, National Peoples Party, Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam.**
Re: SC to hear Asghar Khan’s 16 yrs old plea on Feb 29
SC probably have fixed the date of hearing the appeal under tremendous pressure as they were being accused of being biased towards Nawaz Sharif.. some people started calling SC Sharif Courts. PPP will hope the case is not decided anytime soon or on merit because it will release completely the pressure on SC to act against PPP government's criminalities.
As far as people of Pakistan are concerned.. we want the justice to take it's course. Even if heads of both major political parties.. Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif.. are banned from politics and are put behind the bars. I hope justice prevails..
Re: SC to hear Asghar Khan’s 16 yrs old plea on Feb 29
................The petition has called upon the apex court to punish the politicians and political groups who have been receiving pots of money from the agency........
what about the officials who had been distributing public money to those politicians? should they not be punished?
ooppsssss..... I hope GS doesn't give posters' IPs out :P
Re: SC to hear Asghar Khan’s 16 yrs old plea on Feb 29
So what was your IP again? ;)
seriously there are many threads related to the working of our intelligence/military apparatus in Gupshup. The Pakistani public funds the army and they should be made accountable to the wrongs they do and the condition in which they have taken Pakistan into.
Re: SC to hear Asghar Khan’s 16 yrs old plea on Feb 29
ISLAMABAD: Former DG ISI Lt Gen (retd) Asad Durrani and late Maj General (retd) Naseerullah Khan Babar were determined to protect the army and ISI as state institutions in the Mehran Bank scandal, also known as the Asghar Khan case.
However, in the days to come as the Supreme Court is all set to hear the case, the much-condemned political role of the ISI/army would be the focus, possibly paving way to end the agency’s political role started by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Politicians have a lesser scale of embarrassment to face.
Among the recipients of money, former President Farooq Khan Leghari, former KP chief minister Mir Afzal Khan, former PM Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, former PM Meraj Khalid, former Sindh Chief Minister Jam Sadiq Ali, former PM Mohammed Khan Junejo, Pir Sahib Pagaro, Humayun Marri, Mustafa Sadiq, Maulana Salahuddin, Sarwar Kakar, Yusuf Haroon and former interior minister Lt Gen (retd) Naseerullah Khan Babar are already dead.
Among those alive who allegedly received the money or were involved include former army chief General (retd) Mirza Aslam Beg, ex-ISI chief Asad Durrani, Mian Nawaz Sharif, Lt General (retd) Rafaqat, Syeda Abida Hussain, journalist Altaf Hussain Qureshi, lawyer Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, Altaf Hussain, chief of MQM, and former Sindh speaker Muzaffar Hussain Shah.
What is, however, interesting to notice in the Asghar Khan case is the confidential note of Durrani, addressed to the then Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, in which the former DG ISI not only resolved to protect General Aslam Beg but also justified the doling out of money by the ISI on the then president’s instructions to the opposition voices, including Nawaz Sharif.
In his confidential note, repeatedly marked as “Eyes only”, Durrani said: “It might be their (opposition’s’) legitimate right to take donations, especially if they came through ‘sacred channels’. Some embarrassment is possible but a few millions are peanuts nowadays.”
The affidavit of late Naseerullah Babar, the interior minister of Benazir Bhutto’s second regime, shows that before proceeding on Mehrangate not only he met the then Army chief General Abdul Waheed Kakar to get the his clearance but stated under oath that he was not motivated by any desire to malign or attract adverse criticism to the army, “an institution that I had served during the best years of my life and with some distinction.”
Durrani, in his affidavit, had offered half truths that include who amongst the politicians had benefited from the Mehran Bank money, Rs140 million, distributed by the ISI to opposition parties and leaders, including Nawaz Sharif, JI and several others on the then President Ghulam Ishaq Khan’s verbal direction.
However, his confidential note written to the Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is an interesting reading. In this note, Durrani, the then ambassador to Germany, wrote: “A few points I could not include in my ‘confessional statement’ (affidavit) handed over to the director FIA. These could be embarrassing or sensitive.
a. The recipients included Khar, 2 million, Hafeez Pirzada, 3 million, Sarwar Cheema, 0.5m and Mairaj Khalid, 0.2 million. The last two were not on the wrong side. It was merely someone’s ‘soft corner’ that benefited them.
b. The remaining 80Ms (millions) were either deposited in the ISI’s ‘K’ fund or given to director external intelligence for special operations. (Perhaps the saving grace of this disgraceful exercise but it is delicate information.)
c. The operation not only had the ‘blessings’ of the president and the whole-hearted participation of the caretaker PM, but was also in the knowledge of the Army High Command. The last mentioned will be the disgrace of many of us, including Gen Beg (who took his colleagues in confidence) but that is the name we have to protect.
The point that I have ‘war gamed’ in my mind very often is: what is the object of his exercise?
a. If it is to target the opposition; ‘it might be their legitimate right to take donations, especially if they came through ‘sacred channels’. Some embarrassment is possible but a few millions are peanuts nowadays.
b. If the idea is to put Gen Beg on the mat; ‘he was merely providing ‘logistic instruction’ from the government and with the ‘consent’ of the military high command’. In any case, I understand he is implicated in some other deals in the same case.
c. GIK could pretend ignorance, as indeed he never involved himself directly.
d. Of course one has to meet the genuine ends of law. In that case let me take care of the sensitivities like special operations and possibly that of the army.
“It was for these reasons that I desperately wanted to see you before leaving. I also wanted to talk about my farewell meeting with the COAS. In the meantime you must have met after enough and worked out what is in the best interest of the country.”
Naseerullah Babar, who started a probe into the Mehrangate, in his affidavit said that on receipt of collection of all the documents (regarding the scam), he met the then Army Chief General Waheed Kakar in the presence of Gen Ali Quli Khan and Gen Moin Haider. “When a discussion on the matter commenced, the officers cited, expressed views that the case should not be proceeded with, as it would attract adverse publicity against the army. General Waheed Kakar, however, opined that the act was a personal measure and not institutional and would not, therefore, attract any adverse criticism and should be proceeded with.”
He said later he along with prime minister met the president, who immediately remarked as to how could the government proceed with a case in which the army was involved? “It was then explained to him that the army had already rendered its clearance. The president agreed and, in consequence, a commission was appointed and the case submitted.”
In his five-page affidavit, Babar explained, “It would be apparent from the content of my ‘affidavit’ that I was not motivated by any desire to malign or attract adverse criticism to the Army — an institution that I had served during the best years of my life and with some distinction. The only motivation stemmed from the desire to keep polity of the country clear of extraneous interference — more so, when the nation was, after years of martial law, launched a democratic agenda.” Asghar Khan’s petition was moved by senior Supreme Court advocate Habib Wahabul Khairi.
