The Ministry of Defence on Wednesday maintained its stance in the apex court that there was no “political cell” operational within the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
The statement was produced during the proceedings held in the Air Marshal (r) Asghar Khan Case in which Khan alleged that money was distributed among politicians by the then Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt General (r) Asad Durrani on orders of the then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan and then chief of army staff General (r) Mirza Aslam Baig.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising of Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, was hearing the case pertaining to the petition.
The petitioner had accused the ISI of financing politicians in the 1990 elections to create the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) to prevent former PPP chairwoman Benazir Bhutto from winning the polls.
Referring to the statement of the Defence Ministry, the chief justice remarked that it had been submitted in a statement in year 1997, a year after the petition was filed, that a political cell existed in the agency.
The court also summoned both the defence and interior secretaries to appear before the bench today (Thursday).
The court subsequently directed Commander Shahbaz, the official representing the ministry, to submit a reply after it had been signed.
Shahbaz told the court that the ministry had confirmed the information with the intelligence agency before submitting its response.
Expressing its displeasure over the absence of Interior Secretary Siddique Akbar, the bench issued summons for both the interior and defence secretaries. After a short break in the hearing, Shahbaz told the court that Defence Secretary Lt Gen (r) Asif Yasin Malik could not appear before the court due to his professional engagements, as he had gone to conduct a survey of the airport.
Upon hearing the response, the chief justice remarked that the defence ministry was not taking the matter seriously enough, adding that the ministry did not understand what it meant to appear before a court of law.
During the hearing, Asghar Khan’s counsel Salman Akram Raja read out different statements submitted with the court and argued that the ISI had disbursed money for political operation.
However, the chief justice remarked that it was important to produce evidence pertaining to those who had received the money. Salman Raja argued that the officials of the ISI had admitted distributing money which was tantamount to violating their oath.
Later, the bench adjourned the proceedings until Thursday.