The Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed annoyance over the working of intelligence agencies, terming their activities “beyond given mandate”. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry remarked that the secret agencies were not working as per their mandate, saying, “We cannot compromise on the interests of the state.”
The apex court resumed the hearing of the Mehrangate scandal by warning Younis Habib – the central figure of the scandal – against scandalising the court, and asked him to submit documents and applications in accordance with the rules of the apex court. Younis, former chief of the defunct Mehran Bank, has recently written a letter directly addressed to the chief justice. Younis then sought an unconditional apology from the Supreme Court in this regard.
Former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Asad Durrani said he had acted in personal capacity, and that the ISI was not involved in the distribution of funds to certain politicians. The CJP asked Durrani if he was accepting that he had distributed the money among politicians. “You and Aslam Beg were generals when this happened, and we don’t know the consequences of this act,” he said.
“How did you, being a government employee, function in your personal capacity? You may take a lawyer if you wish so,” Justice Khilji Arif Hussain asked the former ISI head. Durrani replied, “I kept the ISI out of it all. I will prefer to hire the services of a lawyer.”
The chief justice asked Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq to read out a news story published in an English daily about the role of secret agencies. After reading the relevant paragraphs, the attorney general told the bench that he could not verify the authenticity of the said news item. The bench issued notices to the newspaper’s reporter to appear and assist the court by providing classified documents that he had mentioned in his story. The attorney general told the court that the government had no objection if the secret statements of Asad Durrani and Naseerullah Babar were made public. He said that he had gone through the relevant record of Asghar Khan’s case with the cooperation of the Registrar’s Office and could not find anything classified, as the said material had already been known to the public and the media. “A written order will be passed to make the report public during the next hearing of the case,” the CJP remarked.
The bench questioned the attorney general about the unavailability of the enquiry commission’s report on Mehran Bank. The attorney general replied that the interior secretary was out of country and he would apprise the bench about the status of reports after contacting him. The Supreme Court then adjourned the hearing until March 30. On March 9, Durrani testified before the apex court that he had received instructions from the then chief of army staff Mirza Aslam Beg to make arrangements for disbursement of Rs 140 million among certain candidates to influence the 1990 general elections.
SC chides spy agencies for crossing the line
