Son of former air chief Asghar Khan on Saturday condemned the closure of the Asghar Khan case over lack of evidence, adding that he is ready to plead the case himself.
Last week, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) requested the Supreme Court to close the Asghar Khan case related to the alleged distribution of money among politicians, including former premier Nawaz Sharif, to rig the 1990 general elections.
Ali Asghar Khan, who is also a member of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said that he was ready to challenge the closure and plead the case himself. “I have also submitted an application to the registrar of the Supreme Court in this regard. Now I am waiting for a reply,” he told media persons.
The FIA submitted a report to the top court, stating that it does not have enough evidence to proceed against the accused in the case. The politicians who were accused of receiving money denied doing so in their statements, it added.
The report said there were gaps and contradiction in the statements of witnesses in the 25-year-old case. There was no record of transactions made through banks, it added.
In his reply, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif categorically denied receiving Rs3.5 million to engineer the 1990 elections.
In 1996, retired air chief marshal Asghar Khan had written a letter to then chief justice Nasim Hassan Shah, alleging that former president Ghulam Ishaq Khan, then army chief Gen Mirza Aslam Beg, and others had distributed Rs 140 million among several politicians to rig the 1990 polls against Benazir Bhutto.
The former air marshal passed away on Jan 5, 2018, after a protracted illness at the age of 97.