Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Friday notices would be issued to recipients of political funding by the Inter-Services Intelligence after receiving ample evidence.
A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry heard the Asghar Khan case against political funding by the ISI in the run-up to 1990 elections. Former chief of army staff, Aslam Baig, was also present in the court room. In the course of proceedings, former ISI director general Mehmood Durrani told the SC that funds were distributed amongst politicians upon directives of head of Presidency cell Ajlal Haidar Zaidi and orders given by the former chief of army staff General Aslam Baig. Attorney General Irfan Qadir told court that notification for establishing political wing in the ISI had not been found so far.
“Upon questions arose in reports of Habib Bank and Mehran Bank commissions, it was accepted in the answers of Justice (r) Ilyas and Shahid Hamid that some action was taken but documents were sent to Ministry of Law and Justice afterward,” he stated.
Representative of Ministry of Defence Commander Shahbaz said as far as his knowledge, the notice for establishing ISI’s political wing was issued by the Cabinet Division.
The court directed representative of Defence Ministry to obtain the notification from the ministry concerned and asked the attorney general to cooperate with the representative. The court ordered the law secretary to search out all verified documents related to the Habib Bank scandal.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry remarked, “If the notification of establishing ISI’s political wing was found, it would be determined easily which division had issued that notification.” During the hearing, Asad Durrani presented documents containing record of 270 million rupees funds distributed among politicians.
Irfan Qadir read out the names of recipient politicians.
The chief justice said, all politicians are respectable for them and verdict could not be announced until the accused testified in court.
Durrani said he had drafted the document on the basis of his memory, adding that the people sitting in Quetta could tell the names of Kakar and Jamali.
Durrani said the money was distributed amongst politicians on the orders given by former chief of army staff General (r) Aslam Baig. According to Durrani, the total amount of money was Rs 140 million, of which Rs 60 million was disbursed and remaining amount was deposited to a special fund.
The chief justice also said the case would be heard in open court and after receiving ample evidence, the court would announce its verdict. The court then adjourned the hearing until July 16.
