ISLAMABAD, Feb 4: Veteran politician Air Marshal (Retd) Asghar Khan has urged the Supreme Court to determine the role of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) in national politics on the basis of a petition filed by him several years ago.

Speaking at a press conference he alleged that the political wing of the Inter Services Intelligence was still operational and asserted that there should be no role of the security agency in politics. He observed that general elections in the country would be meaningless unless the role of ISI in politics was eliminated.

He asked the Apex Court to resume the hearing of a case pertaining to Rs140 million obtained by the ISI from a banker and distributed among politicians belonging to the then Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) prior to Oct 1990 elections.

He said that the amount had been distributed among the IJI components on the directives of the then President Ghulam Ishaq Khan adding that the receipts were in the custody of Supreme Court and no further proof was required.

He said that those who received these funds from the ISI should be asked to return the same with interest to the government and they should be disqualified.

He said that his letter regarding the distribution of funds among the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad components had been converted into a petition by the then Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and few hearings also took place.

He, however, said that no hearing had taken place after Oct 1999 military intervention. He said that he wrote letters to the incumbent Chief Justice and even filed a petition calling for hearing of the case, but was still waiting for a response.

He said that the present setup could, in no way, be termed as democratic but was an outright military government. He said that there was no room for the military in politics and they were bound to obey their political masters voted to power by the masses.

He said that the elections under military government would be meaningless and alleged that pre-poll rigging had already started. He said that huge funds in the name of development had been provided to candidates of the "King's Party".

He said that even the presence of foreign observers would not help prevent rigging in elections. He, however, said that it would not be wise for the political forces to boycott polls and give walkover to ruling party.

Answering a question, he said that he had allowed his son late Omar Asghar Khan to join the government as the seven-point agenda spelt by President Musharraf was highly impressive.

He, however, said that Musharraf deviated from the agenda and ultimately Omar Asghar Khan had to tender his resignation after two years.