Supreme Court seeks reports on ISI functioning

After taking up a decade long pending petition of Air Marshal (Retd) Asghar Khan, the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday issued notices to former ISI chief Asad Durrani and Ministry of Defence, seeking the 1998 court report on the functioning of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

On May 27, 1998, the apex court had made a report on the functioning of the ISI and the money it handed out, but the report was sealed.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry expressed concerns over how the sealed records were not available with the court, directing that the records be found and presented to the court during the next hearing.

The apex court resumed hearing of the Khan’s case in which former Chief of Army Staff General (Retd) Aslam Beg and former DG ISI Let. Gen. (Retd) Asad Durrani admitted their wrongdoings but had not produced any evidence about the money distributed by them to political parties and journalists against Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

A three-member bench of the apex court is hearing the case, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez. During the hearing, the Chief Justice remarked that hearing of the case was not feasible till Asad Durrani’s appearance.

Advocate Suleman Akram Raja, representing Asghar in the case, asked the court to find Durrani’s new address, and added that the previous notice was not delivered as he had shifted his house.

Counsel of Asad Durrani Akram Sheikh prayed before the apex court that the former ISI Chief was visiting Colombo and he would not be able to come till March 5 or 6. The apex court adjourned the hearing of the case till March 8.

The Asghar Khan’s petition is not only involves two former top generals but a number of key politicians and important players in the present political and media chessboard of the country.

Air Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan had approached the Supreme Court in 1996 with reference to the disbursement of public money and its misuse for political purposes by the then Army Chief General Aslam Beg, DG ISI Lt Gen Asad Durrani and former Mehran Bank chief Younis Habib.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Feb 29 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan, Politics. 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.