SC summons Nawaz, ex-generals Beg and Durrani in Asghar Khan case

–Three-judge bench headed by CJP Saqib Nisar will hear case on Wednesday

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Saturday issued notices to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General (r) Mirza Aslam Beg and former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general Asad Durrani for recording their statements in the Asghar Khan case.

Further, the attorney general and director general Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) have also been summoned by the apex court on August 15.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar will hear the case on Wednesday.

On June 2, the top court issued notices to Nawaz and senior politician Javed Hashmi along with 19 other civilians named in the case.

On June 9, In his reply submitted to the SC, Nawaz Sharif denied receiving Rs3.5 million from former ISI chief Lt Gen (r) Asad Durrani in the Asghar Khan case.

In the four-page reply submitted to the Supreme Court through his counsel, Nawaz stated that he never received the money from Durrani or under his instructions from his representatives as a donation to spend on the general election campaign of 1990.

Nawaz also denied receiving an amount in the sum of Rs3.5 million and Rs2.5 million from Younus Habib or under his instructions.

THE CASE:

On October 19, 2012, the apex court had issued a 141-page verdict, ordering legal proceedings against Gen (r) Beg and Lt Gen (r) Durrani in a case filed 16 years ago by former air chief Air Marshal Asghar Khan.

Khan, who passed away in January this year, was represented in the Supreme Court (SC) by renowned lawyer Salman Akram Raja.

Khan had petitioned the Supreme Court in 1996 alleging that the two senior army officers and the then-president Ghulam Ishaq Khan had doled out Rs140 million among several politicians ahead of the 1990 polls to ensure Benazir Bhutto’s defeat in the polls.

The Islamic Jamhoori Ittihad (IJI), consisting of nine parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League, National Peoples Party and Jamaat-e-Islami, had won the 1990 elections, with Nawaz Sharif being elected prime minister. The alliance had been formed to oppose the Benazir Bhutto-led PPP.

In 1996, Khan had written a letter to the then Supreme Court chief justice Nasim Hassan Shah naming Beg, Durrani and Younis Habib, the ex-Habib Bank Sindh chief and owner of Mehran Bank, about the unlawful disbursement of public money and its misuse for political purposes.

The 2012 apex court judgment, authored by then chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, had directed the FIA to initiate a transparent investigation and subsequent trial if sufficient evidence is found against the former army officers.

The investigation is yet to conclude.