LAHORE, Aug 1: The Lahore High Court was requested on Friday to set up a judicial inquiry commission under the Pakistan Army Act to probe the doings of generals who had allegedly misused public funds and received kickbacks in defence deals.

The Pakistan Lawyers Forum filed a petition with the court pleading that the commission should comprise Supreme Court judges of unblemished repute, the Leader of the Opposition and the Pakistan Bar Council president and secretary-general. It should initiate investigations against all the army generals who came to power between 1958 and 1999.

PLF president A.K. Dogar further prayed that till a decision on this petition, President Gen Pervez Musharraf, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Chairman Gen Aziz, Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool, former interior minister Moinudin Haider, Lt-Gen Muzaffar Usmani (retired) and Lt-Gen Afzal Janjua (retired) be restrained from alienating their assets and avoiding the judicial probe.

The petitioner alleged that Air Chief Marshal Abbas Khattak (retired) had received Rs180 million as kickbacks in the purchase of 40 old Mirage fighters while another Air Chief Marshal Feroz Khan was suspected of receiving a five per cent commission on the purchase of 40 F-7 planes worth $271 million.

In 1996, the army bought 1,047 GS-90s at a cost of $20,889 per jeep. The market value of a jeep was only $13,000 at the time. According to sources in the NAB, some senior army officers had made Rs510 million in the deal, the petitioner alleged.

He alleged that 111 army men had got 400 plots in Bahawalpur and Rahimyar Khan districts at throwaway prices, allegedly paying Rs47.50 per kanal as against the actual price of Rs15,000 to Rs20,000. Another 35,000 kanals were distributed among them.

As per details, each of the six respondents allegedly got 400 kanals in the Punjab while former NAB chairman Lt-Gen Mohammad Amjad was allotted a two-kanal plot on the Sarwar Road in Lahore for just Rs800,000 — payable in instalments over 20 years. The market value of this plot was Rs20 million.

According to Mr Dogar, Gen Musharraf had acquired a commercial plot worth Rs20 million at DHA in Lahore for just Rs100,000 — payable in 20 years. “As mentioned in the report of defence services director-general, a loss of Rs5 billion was incurred due to such allotments.”

He submitted in his petition that the army had awarded a contract for the purchase of 1,000 Hino trucks at $40,000 per unit while Gandhara Industries had offered trucks of the same specification for $25,000 apiece. In the purchase of 3,000 Landrovers in 1995, army officials allegedly received around Rs2 billion as kickbacks.

“The army management at Wapda raised the power tariff 13 times during the last three years besides purchasing electric meters at Rs1,050 apiece against the open market price of Rs456, causing a loss of Rs1.65 billion to the national exchequer.”

The petitioner accused the former military regime of selling the Pak-Saudi Fertilizers for Rs7 billion and earning a Rs2 billion commission on the deal.

“In 1996, the Pakistan Navy spent Rs13,112 million on installing air-conditioners at the Islamabad Golf Club without any justification.”

Mr Dogar quoted the SC judgment in Khan Asfand Yar Wali case to support his petition: “It is wrong to contend that members of the Armed Forces are immune from accountability. Admittedly, they are subject to accountability in accordance with the methodology laid down in the Army Act”. He further submitted that the court could also constitute the inquiry commission in the light of SC judgment in the Sharaf Fareedi Case 1994.

The petition is likely to be taken up for hearing in the last week of August.