- Asghar Khan case resurfaces with a bang
In the case of the 1996 petition filed by the late Air Marshal Asghar Khan regarding interference by non-political forces to influence results of the 1990 general elections, there appears a general amnesia on the part of all concerned regarding its prosecution and denouement. Six years have elapsed since the 2012 Supreme Court decision that organised rigging occurred to preempt election of Benazir Bhutto, sleaze funds of Rs140 million were distributed among prominent politicians, and ordering the federal government to take legal action against former President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, self-confessed fund disseminator ISI head Lt Gen (ret) Asad Durrani, retired crmy chief Mirza Aslam Beg, and the financial patron, Younus Habib of Mehran Bank.
The judicial torch has since been passed to a new generation operating in the fast lane, so that when review petitions filed by the two retired generals against the 2012 Supreme Court decision came up for hearing on Monday, they were not only promptly dismissed, but responsibility for six-year delay in its implementation also came under keen court scrutiny.
The SC judgment delivered in 2012 clearly maintained that the ISI, MI or any other agency like IB have no role to play in the political affairs of the country or interfere in the holding of honest, free and fair elections by Election Commission of Pakistan. Further that “Involvement of the officers/members of secret agencies i.e. ISI, MI, IB, etc, in unlawful activities, individually or collectively calls for strict action being, violative of oath of their offices, and if involved, they are liable to be dealt with under the Constitution and the Law.”
There are two categories in this case. First, there are the two former generals who according to the 2012 SC judgment “had acted in violation of the constitution” and “their act had brought bad name to Pakistan and its armed forces”. They should be sentenced accordingly.
Meanwhile inquiries should be conducted against the people in the government who did not allow the implementation of the order in the Asghar Khan case and action taken against them and the recipients of funds from the agencies according to law.