ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday turned down a request by former army chief Mirza Aslam Beg to be defended by a different counsel against charges that he played a role in ‘polluting’ the 1990 general elections.

Gen Beg had filed a petition on Nov 22, 2012, seeking a review to the October 19, 2012, apex court verdict in the Asghar Khan case ordering the federal government to initiate necessary action against him and former director general Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) retired Lt-Gen Asad Durrani for their role in dishing out Rs140 million to a particular group of politicians.

On Monday, a three-judge bench, headed by Justice Saqib Nisar, disallowed senior counsel Ali Zafar to represent Gen Beg in place of Mohammad Akram Sheikh on the ground that he did not entertain a request similar to the one made by Asma Jahangir in the Sumaira Malik case.

The court, however, accepted Mr Zafar’s request to help his client in case the court needed assistance on purely legal or technical questions.

Ex-army chief filed plea seeking review of Supreme Court’s 2012 verdict in Asghar Khan case

The review petition was moved by Mr Zafar instead of Akram Sheikh citing health and personal reasons.

The petition stated that the findings and observations made against Gen Beg by the court were incorrect and infringed his fundamental right to a fair trial as enshrined in Article 10A of the Constitution and the right to due process of law.

Referring to the decree that no officer should follow unlawful orders, the petitioner argued that if this proposition was allowed to remain worded in such a vague manner, it would lead to mayhem in the armed forces and bureaucracy.

The government will not be able to run and there will be anarchy, the petition pleaded, adding an army officer was bound to obey the orders of his superiors and must act on the assumption that the command by his seniors was lawful even at the risk of his life. It is not possible for an army officer to start asking his superiors to explain the legality of the command, the petition said.

“The principle of refusing to obey superiors’ order is limited only to extreme cases where an instruction is patently and manifestly unlawful on the face of record and perpetuates a criminal offence or an offence against humanity,” the petition stated.

It contended that the only allegation against Gen Beg contained in three lines of the affidavit of Gen Durrani alleging that he had received instructions from him (Gen Beg) to provide logistic support for the disbursement of funds.

“Though the statement of Gen Durrani was denied by Gen Beg, the apex court believed the version of the former as a gospel truth and rejected the affidavit of Gen Beg,” the petition argued.

On April 8, 2015, the federal government had withdrawn from the apex court its review petition stating that under the changed circumstances the judgment was no longer relevant.

The federal government on Nov 17, 2012, had sought the review of the verdict only to the extent of the remarks made by the court in its judgment against the then president Asif Ali Zardari.

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2015