Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Tuesday said it would be highly unfortunate if “the presidential authority is proven to be involved in the Mehran Bank scandal”, as the posts of the president, army chief and the director general of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) are of great importance for the country.The CJ was heading a three-judge bench hearing the decades-old case of former Air Chief Marshal Asghar Khan regarding alleged distribution of money among a set of politicians by the civil and military authorities to sway the 1990 elections in Islami Jamhoori Ittehad’s (IJI) favour. The bench also issued notice to former Military Intelligence (MI) chief Brigadier (r) Hamid Saeed for Wednesday and adjourned the hearing.
During the hearing, the chief justice observed that political alliances like the IJI would not be allowed in the country anymore and only a democratic system would thrive in which lay national salvation. Salman Akram Raja, counsel for Asghar Khan, said of total 140 million rupees that were doled out, Rs 70 million were spent while Rs 70 million were kept in bank accounts. He said wrongs of the past would always remain wrong, as held by the court in its various judgements.
He said the court had the power to oversee investigation process, especially in financial scams. The bench declined a request by Muhammad Akram Shaikh, counsel for former chief of army staff Mirza Aslam Baig, to make public the record of 12-page cross examination of PPP’s former interior minister Naseerullah Babar. The chief justice said the court through its various judgments had been trying to keep the system on track. He further said that through apex court’s judgement of November 3, 2007, it had restrained all unconstitutional steps of then president and the army chief. The CJ termed such a directive a conscious effort on part of the superior judiciary against the unconstitutional steps to derail the democratic system.
President’s involvement in politics would be unfortunate: SC
