The Supreme Court on Thursday accepted a request by Salman Akram Raja, the lawyer for former air chief marshal Asghar Khan, for making the office of the president a respondent in the case pertaining to the alleged existence of a political cell in the Presidency and the alleged distribution of money among politicians by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to sway the 1990 elections in favour of the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI).
The court issued notice to the president’s principal secretary, seeking record about the existence of a political cell during tenure of former president late Ghulam Ishaq Khan (late).
A three-judge bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain heard arguments presented by Salman Akram Raja.
After hearing the counsel’s contention, the bench directed its office to send copies of order sheets along with classified documents to the office of the president with further observations to make arrangements for appearing of secretary to the president if he was advised or desired so.
The bench also ordered the secretary for the Cabinet Division to submit his statement with the SC Registrar before the next date of hearing, indicating if there existed a political cell in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) in the past or at present.
The bench issued the directives after Interior Secretary Khawaja Siddique Akbar apprised the bench through a certificate that the IB was under the control of the Cabinet Division.
Commander Shahbaz, representative of the Ministry of Defence, submitted a document on behalf of the ministry and informed the court that they had nominated a deputy attorney general to represent them during proceedings. The bench noted that despite previous orders, the relevant deputy attorney general had failed to appear in Wednesday’s hearing without intimating the bench. The ministry submitted its statement, signed by Defence Secretary Lt Gen (r) Asif Yasin Malik, stating that no political cell was operating in any of its subordinate departments at present.
Earlier at the onset of proceedings, Commander Shahbaz apprised the bench that the notification remained untraced and its reference was made in the court’s order sheets. The chief justice told the counsel for the petitioner that the cell was allegedly functioning in the President’s House at the time and was controlled by former bureaucrats Roedad Khan and Ijlal Haider Zaidi, as appeared from the record, and questioned him whether he had ever considered the Presidency as party in the case. Salman Akram Raja requested the bench to make the Presidency a party. Justice Jawwad S Khawja remarked that two names had surfaced from the issue, Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Farooq Leghari, both of whom were blamed for ‘slush money’.
The chief justice observed that under Article 243, the president was the supreme commander of the armed forces and such activity should not have taken place in the Presidency. He said the objective of a political cell in the President’s House could only be to ensure a victory in elections, adding that time and again during the hearing, officials had said that the President’s House at the time was issuing directions pertaining to political manipulation.
Moreover, Justice Hussain said a politically-involved president would eventually affect the state’s institutions.
The bench also expressed displeasure over the absence of Attorney General Irfan Qadir. Salman Raja contended that the president could not have been advised by the prime minister at that time and if he had allowed such activity, he had violated the oath of his office. The lawyer said the former president was no more alive, however, Justice Jawwad remarked people did not live forever, but the pertinent question was of constitutional abidance. Salman said the Presidency could have the record of such activity. The proceedings were later adjourned until October 15.
CJ is settling scores with PPP, as the case is about the political cell in ISI and distribution of money among politicians by the latter. But I understand why he (CJ) is twisting and turning this case and making it weak case of dual offices. But he won’t succeed in his political games in the Supreme Court. What about the political cell in the SC working under the name of Human Right Cell?. It could become a source of corruption, biased judgments, circumventing the judicial process and an illegal source of collecting evidence. Should be disbanded by the SC.
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