In a reply submitted to the Supreme Court on Saturday in the Asghar Khan case, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has denied allegations of receiving Rs3.5 million for his 1990 election campaign.

Sharif, who is among a number politicians accused of receiving money to contest elections against the PPP, denied the allegations against him, saying that he had never received Rs3.5m or Rs2.5m from either the former director general (DG) of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), retired Lt Gen Asad Durrani, or Mehran Bank's Younus Habib, or anyone else.

The former premier further said that his statement in this case has already been recorded with the Federal Investigation Agency.

Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq also submitted an affidavit on behalf of his party denying allegations of receiving money from the ISI for the 1990 elections.

The apex court had recently taken up the case again after the FIA failed to ensure the implementation of its earlier decision. A number of politicians, including Nawaz, were served notices to appear in person earlier this month.

The former DG ISI and chief of army staff (COAS) retired Gen Aslam Beg — central characters of the case — had earlier appeared before it.

Asghar Khan case

In 1996, Air Marshal Khan had filed a human rights petition in the SC of Pakistan, accusing the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of doling out money to a group of politicians in the 1990s.

The case was initiated by the air marshal after Benazir Bhutto's interior minister, retired general Naseerullah Babar, had disclosed in the National Assembly in 1994 how the ISI had disbursed funds to purchase the loyalty of politicians and public figures so as to manipulate the 1990 elections, form the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI), and bring about the defeat of the PPP.

16 years after the petition was filed, the SC in its judgement — penned by then chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry — ruled that the 1990 general elections had been polluted by dishing out Rs140 million to a particular group of politicians only to deprive the people of being represented by their chosen representatives.

The court had, however, thrown the ball back to the then PPP government by directing it to take necessary action under the Constitution and law against former army chief Beg and former director general of ISI Durrani for their role in facilitating the group of politicians and political parties to ensure their success against their rivals in the 1990 elections.

In May 2017, PTI had announced its decision to file in the Supreme Court a petition seeking implementation of the orders of the already decided case.