Supreme Court orders action against former army chief, DG ISI

In what appeared to be a rare example in the country’s history, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered the government to take action against former military chief Aslam Baig and DG ISI Asad Durrani.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary ruled that election process was polluted through political meddling and the ISI and army chiefs, in personal capacity, indulged in politics illegally in 1990s.

The court resumed hearing in the petition filed by Air Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan, requesting to look into allegations that the ISI had financed many politicians in the 1990 elections by dishing out Rs140 million to create the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) and stop Benazir Bhutto’s PPP from coming to power.

In its short order, the court said an election cell was established in the President House in an attempt to manipulate election.  “Army cannot indulge in politics and institutions like ISI and MI could not take part in politics, army could not take a step to destabilize a civil government”, it added.

However, the ruling also stated that action could not be taken against those politicians who received money from the ISI without thorough investigation.

It said the action of Assad Durrani, then former ISI chief and Aslam Baig, then ex army chief, vilified to the army. The court ordered the Federal Investigation Agency to probe the issue of distribution of money and recovered the amount.

The court ordered the government to take legal action against the former retired generals who were involved in the corruption as well as against Younus Habib, former president of the now defunct Mehran Bank.

The election cell was set up in 1990 in the Presidency which was an attempt to influence the elections, adding that polls were fraudulent and the political process was contaminated.

As per the Constitution, the state can exercise its authority through its elected representatives, the order stated.

According to the ruling, political activism was not the domain of the military and the intelligence agencies. Their job is to cooperate with the government.

Earlier during today’s proceedings, the Chief Justice remarked that according to the Constitution, the president holds the most significant office and he is the head of the state, and not the prime minister.

He further contended that the court will continue to support the democratic process and will not allow anyone to derail the democracy.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=34220

Posted by Faisal Farooq on Oct 19 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. 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.