LAHORE: The former chief justice of Pakistan Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui’s statement that the Inter Services Intelligence dished out millions of rupees to different politicians during President Ghulam Ishaq Khan’s regime to maneouver the 1990 elections, followed by Asghar Khan’s demand that the present chief justice should re-open the said case which he had filed in 1996 to take it to its logical end, has dusted off an old controversy, which is set to blemish the democratic credentials of many leading politicians of the country, especially Nawaz Sharif, the leader of his own faction of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML).
Chief Justice (retd) Siddiqui told a private television channel that the ISI was an intelligence agency and it should not interfere in national politics, or be used against politicians. Seasoned politician Air Marshall (retd) Asghar Khan had gone one step ahead in asking the incumbent Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to reopen the ISI funds distribution case case he had filed with the apex court almost 13 years ago with a view to take the culprits to task. His case is pending with the Supreme Court of Pakistan since the November 1997 unceremonious exit of former Chief Justice of Pakistan, Syed Sajjad Ali Shah, from his office at the hands of the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The case had originated on June 16, 1996 from a letter by Asghar Khan to the then Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, asking him to take appropriate action on the then Interior Minister Major General (retd) Naseerullah Khan Babar’s statement in the National Assembly.
Naseerullah Khan Babar had stated on the floor of the house: “The ISI collected some Rs140 million from the Habib Bank Ltd and distributed among a number of politicians prior to the 1990 elections with a view to manipulate the results in favour of the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad.” Asghar Khan’s letter was subsequently converted into a constitutional petition (19 of 1996) by the Chief Justice under Article 184(3), envisaging the human rights jurisdiction of the apex court. According to the petitioner, Asghar Khan, he had sent the first letter with the sole purpose of exposing the role of ISI in manoeuvring the election results and supporting its favourite politicians to fulfill political ends of the establishment. “You never know how many elections have been rigged and manoeuvred by the ISI in the past,” Asghar had stated in his letter to the Chief Justice, adding that the ISI moves since the restoration of democracy in 1988 were actually aimed at defeating the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and therefore, the matter be adjudged and action be taken against those found guilty.
The respondents in the said case were Mirza Mohammad Aslam Beg, former Chief of Army Staff, retired Lt General Asad Durrani, ex-Director-General of Inter Services Intelligence Directorate, and Mr Younis Habib, ex-chief of ex-Mehran Bank Ltd, then confined in Central Jail, Karachi. However, the case could not be decided because of the premature dismissal of Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah. He was followed by CJPs Ajmal Mian, Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui, Irshad Hasan Khan, Bashir Jehangiri, Shaikh Riaz Ahmed, Nazim Hussain Siddiqui and now Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. Yet, even after a lapse of 13 years, the Human Rights Petition No. 19/96 remains shelved as none of the chief justices after Sajjad Shah had dared to invite the wrath of the country’s mighty military and intelligence establishment by reopening the controversial case.
In his written reply submitted with the Supreme Court of Pakistan at that time and subsequently reported by the media, General Mirza Aslam Beg had stated: “More serious damage has been caused to the reputation and the good will of the Armed Forces by Air Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan in bringing the petition before this Honourable Court and raising an issue before the apex Court which of course would receive great publicity and would cause greater damage by scandalisation in the media…“That dragging the ex-service chief to the courts on a letter may be detrimental to the prestige, honour and dignity of the institution he has once represented… That Asghar Khan has approached this august court with ulterior motives and his representation is based on obvious malafides . . .”
General Mirza Aslam Beg, who is now active in Pakistani politics, had then conceded that it had been a routine for the ISI to support the favourite candidates in elections under directives of the successive chief executives. He had stated in his written reply to the apex court: “That in early September [1990], Mr Younis Habib then serving in the Habib Bank Ltd as Zonal Chief had called on the answering respondent [Beg] and informed him that he was under instructions from the President’s [Ghulam Ishaq] Election Cell to make available a sum of Rs.140 million for supporting the elections of 1990. He stated that he will be available to collect this amount through his own efforts from his community as donations and that he was under the instructions of the Election Cell to place this amount at the disposal of the Director-General, Inter Services Intelligence who would handle this amount as per instructions of the President’s Election Cell”.
“That in 1990 the National Assembly of Pakistan was dissolved and the government of Ms Benazir Bhutto was dismissed. A caretaker government was formed to hold elections within 90 days. The then President, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, had formed an Election Cell directly under him managed by Roedad Khan/Ijlal Haider Zaidi. That later on, the answering respondent was informed by Director-General, Inter Services Intelligence that various accounts were opened and the amount of Rs.140 million was deposited in those accounts directly by Younis Habib. Director General Inter Services Intelligence made arrangements to distribute these amounts amongst the politicians belonging to various political parties and persons as instructed by the Election Cell”.
The petition further stated: “That in 1975, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the then prime minister, had created a Political Cell within the ISI organisation. As a result, the ISI was made responsible to the chief executive, i.e. the prime minister/president for all matters of national and political intelligence. It is in the very knowledge of the answering respondent that it was the practice with the ISI to support the candidates during the elections under the directions of the Chief Executive of the government. The receipt of this amount by ISI from Younis Habib in 1990 was also under the directions of the Chief Executive. DG ISI also informed the answering respondent that funds so received were properly handled and the accounts were maintained and that President Ghulam Ishaq Khan was briefed by him on this matter”.
“That during this period, in his meeting with President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, the answering respondent had informed him about the donations made by Younis Habib and its utilisation by DG ISI under the instructions of the President’s Political Cell. That the petitioner has made the following allegations : (a) actions of General Mirza Aslam Beg and Lt Gen Muhammad Asad Durrani amounted to gross misconduct; (b) both have brought the armed forces of Pakistan into disrepute; (c) both have been guilty of undermining the discipline of the armed forces. That these allegations are false, based on malafide, and unfounded. That DG had ISI acted within the limits of the ‘lawful command’ received from the President’s Election Cell. Definition of ‘lawful command’ as interpreted by Pakistan Army Act Section 33 Note b(3) is : ‘A superior can give a command for the purpose of maintaining good order or suppressing a disturbance or for the execution of a military duty or regulation’, and Pakistan Army Act Section 33 Note b(11) : ‘A civilian cannot give a ‘lawful command’ under this sub-section to a soldier employed under him; but it may well be the soldier’s duty as such to do the act indicated. That the actions of the respondent and Lt Gen Asad Durrani did not amount to gross misconduct and the orders were carried out under a lawful command.”
Afterwards, a former ISI DG, Lt Gen (retd) Asad Durrani, had conceded in an affidavit submitted to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), that his political cell received Rs140 million from Younas Habib for distribution among anti-PPP politicians at the behest of General Mirza Aslam Beg. The 1990 election was subsequently won by the IJI led by Sharif, who had allegedly received Rs3.5 million from the ISI fund for his election campaign. Nawaz, however, denies receiving any money from the ISI. Lt Gen Asad Durrani, however, says in his affidavit: “It was in September 1990 that I had received instructions to provide ‘logistic support’ for disbursement of donations for the election campaign of the IJI. And all the distributed funds went to the Islamic Democratic Alliance.”
According to the affidavit, a few of the other recipients included country’s late Prime Minister Mohammad Khan Junejo (Rs2.5 million received on 28-9-90), former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (Rs. 3.5 million), former caretaker Prime Minister Malik Meraj Khalid (Rs0.2 million), and Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi (Rs5 million received on 3-10-90), former Sindh Chief Minister Jam Sadiq Ali (Rs5 million received on 20-9-90), Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah (Rs0.3 million), Pir Sahib Pagaro (Rs2 million), Mir Afzal Khan (Rs10 million), the then head of ISI’s political cell Lt-Gen Rafaqat (Rs5.6 million for media management), Jamaat-e-Islami (Rs5 million), journalists Altaf Hussain Qureshi and Mustafa Sadiq (Rs0.5 million). In total, Rs70.32 million were spent from the actual amount of Rs140 million and the rest of the amount was transferred to the ISI’s special fund in an account titled HQ-313 Survey and Construction Group.
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