ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has constituted a committee for implementation of the Supreme Court’s Oct 19, 2012 judgement in the Asghar Khan case.

FIA director general Bashir Memon notified the committee headed by additional director general Ehsan Sadiq and asked it to submit its progress report to the apex court next week.

The Supreme Court had ordered Attorney General Ashtar Ausaf and the FIA director general on May 7 to apprise it about the progress made to implement the court’s verdict in the Asghar Khan case.

Headed by Ehsan Sadiq, committee has been directed to submit its report to SC next week

Following the Oct 19, 2012 verdict of the apex court, the FIA had constituted a team headed by former director general Ghalib Bandesha, Dr Usman Anwar, Qudratullah Marwat and Najaf Mirza.

The FIA had launched the probe into the Asghar Khan case by the end of 2013, almost a year after the Supreme Court ordered an investigation into Rs140 million distribution (among politicians and others) to stop the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) from coming to power in 1990.

Till 2015, the FIA reportedly recorded statements of then prime minister Nawaz Sharif, retired Air Marshal Asghar Khan, former ISI chief retired Gen Asad Durrani, Mehran Bank owner Younis Habib, advocate Yousuf Memon (who allegedly gave money among others to the veteran politician Javed Hashmi) and veteran journalist Altaf Hassan Qureshi.

In its detailed judgement of Nov 8, 2012, the Supreme Court had also ordered the FIA to initiate proceedings against the politicians who allegedly received donations to spend on election campaigns in the general elections of 1990 with the objective to block chances of the PPP winning the elections. In case sufficient evidence was collected, the judgment had ordered, the FIA was required to prepare cases for trial against the recipients of the funds.

Authored by then chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, the detailed judgement spread over 140 pages had emphasised that all officers who obeyed unlawful commands were individually liable and in the event of failure of the state authorities to take action, the rights of the people of Pakistan were to be upheld by the apex court.

The verdict had conceded that the 1990 general elections were polluted by dishing out Rs140m to a particular group of politicians only to deprive the people from being represented by their chosen representatives.

The judgement had also held that the president of Pakistan, the army chief, the ISI chief or their subordinates certainly were not supposed to create an “election cell” or to support a political party / group of political parties, because if they did so, the citizens would fail to elect their representatives in an honest, fair and free process of election, and their actions would negate the constitutional mandate on the subject.

The judgement had stated that in the general elections of 1990 the ‘election cell’ was established in the presidency to influence the elections and was aided by retired Gen Aslam Beg who was the army chief and former ISI director general Asad Durrani and they participated in the unlawful activities of the ‘election cell’ in violation of the responsibilities of the army and ISI as institutions which was an act of individuals but not of institutions represented by them respectively.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2018