Supreme Court fixes February 28 for Asghar Khan’s petition

At long last, the Supreme Court of Pakistan fixed a date for the hearing of a decade-old petition filed by Air Marshal (Retd) Asghar Khan.

After facing criticism from different circles, the apex court set February 29 as the date for the hearing of Asghar Khan’s petition in which he asked the court to punish those politicians and political groups who have been receiving funds from the intelligence agencies.

Under the (HRC 19/96) petition, he made retired Chief Of Army Staff General Mirza Muhammad Aslam Beg, the former Inter Services Intelligence chief retired Lt-General Asad Durrani and Younis Habib of Habib and Mehran Banks as parties in the case.

Asghar Khan, who was heading the less-known Pakistan Tehrik-e-Istaqlal, in the latest move, joined hands with the more prominent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

The two Khans had urged Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to instantly take up the petition filed by Asghar Khan against those politicians and political groups who have been receiving funds from the Inter Services Intelligence agency (ISI).

A few leaders from PML-N are among those factions who have allegedly received money from the ISI in the past to run their election drives.

The PTI chief observed, “I urge the Chief Justice of Pakistan that the Asghar Khan petition is immediately reopened. Those political parties who have been getting money from the agencies don’t have any right to rule the country. Neither can they protect the public interest.”

Asghar Khan while speaking to the media at the occasion alleged, “Many politicians, including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif are among those who received money from the ISI. Nawaz got Rs 3.5 million from the ISI.”

He stated that he had been waiting for the last several years, but the apex court was not taking up his petition.

It is vital to mention here that Asghar was one of the top leaders at the centre of a mass movement that culminated in what the PPP terms the judicial murder of its first leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1979.

He had also called for hanging Bhutto publicly and allegedly wrote a letter to the country’s powerful military to further this proceeding.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=10129

Posted by Faisal Farooq on Jan 23 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan, Politics, Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.