According to an affidavit submitted with the Supreme Court by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) former director general Lt Gen (r) Asad Durrani in 1996, he had distributed Rs 140 million among anti-PPP politicians on the directives of then army chief General (r) Mirza Aslam Beg, who had received orders from the then chief executive to manoeuvre the 1990 election.
The case against distribution of this money was filed with the Supreme Court by Air Marshal (r) Asghar Khan in 1996 following a statement of former interior minister Naseerullah Babar in parliament, in which he alleged that in 1990, Rs 140 million had been dished out with the help of ISI among PPP’s political opponents.
The proceedings on Asghar Khan’s petition were started in 1996 when Justice Sajjad Ali Shah was the chief justice of Pakistan. Then army chief General (r) Aslam Beg, in a reply submitted with the Supreme Court, had stated that: “President Ghulam Ishaq Khan had set up an election cell in the presidency under the supervision of noted bureaucrat Roedad Khan and Ajlal Haider during the 1990 general elections.”
ISI had on the instructions of the election cell gave away Rs 140 million to the opponents of the PPP.
It was a usual thing for the ISI to extend help to their favourite politicians in elections and its approval was granted by the chief executive of the government.
Asad Durrani in his affidavit stated that: “The money was distributed among politicians on the directive of General (r) Aslam Beg (then Chief of Army Staff).”
According to Asad Durrani, the money was distributed as below:
Nawaz Sharif got Rs 3.5 million, Mir Afzal Khan Rs 10 million, Lt Gen Rafaqat got Rs 5.6 million for distribution among journalists, Abida Hussain Rs 1 million, Jamaat-e-Islami Rs 5 million, Altaf Hussain Qureshi Rs 500,000, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi Rs 5 million (Sindh), Jam Sadiq Rs 5 million (Sindh), Muhammad Khan Junejo Rs 250,000 (Sindh), Pir Pagara Rs 2 million (Sindh), Maulana Salahuddin Rs 300,000 (Sindh), various small groups in Sindh Rs 5.4 million and Humayun Marri Rs 1.5 million (Balochistan).
The court is likely to ask for proof/evidence against those who received money from the ISI, and the lawful orders by the competent authority shall be a core issue in the court, asking directly, who ordered the amount to be distributed and with what purpose.
The court may order the ISI to trace back the record and put up evidence beyond reasonable doubt that political leaders/political parties nominated in the case had received money.
‘Those who sold their souls to ISI in the 1990 polls’
