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ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court hearing a case relating to the doling out of money by the Inter-Services Intelligence to politicians in the 1990s appeared to be sceptical when it was informed on Friday that reports of two commissions on the financial scam were nowhere to be found.
“It seems the two reports are intentionally not being produced before the court,” said Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, a member of a three-judge bench which had taken up a petition filed in 1996 by Tehrik-i-Istiqlal chief Air Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan requesting the court to look into allegations that the ISI had financed many politicians in the 1990 election by dishing out Rs140 million to create the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad and block Benazir Bhutto’s PPP from winning.
The commissions were set up to investigate the allegations of misappropriation of funds in the Habib Bank Limited and the now-defunct Mehran Bank Limited.
Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq informed the court that the inquiry reports by the two commissions appointed in pursuance of notifications of June 17, 1994, and Jan 11, 1996, were not available in the ministry of law and justice. He said that in all probability there was no attempt to hide anything from the court.
“Both reports are important which we cannot ignore,” Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry observed. He suggested to the attorney general to find some solution like lodging a formal complaint if the reports were lost.
“This is not an ordinary or a small thing as nobody can think of misplacing a report,” the chief justice said, adding that it suggested that the reports contained names of some bigwigs.
The petition was filed by a very senior and experienced person who had given his blood to this nation, the chief justice said, adding that when Asghar Khan had filed the present case so many things must have been in his mind because his petitions involved former military generals.
The court asked the AG to take necessary steps to recover the reports and to seek instructions from the government whether or not it intended to make the reports public. “If not what are the reasons for not publishing these; specify,” the order said.
IB SECRET FUND: Referring to a report in an English newspaper that the PPP government had drawn Rs270 million from the Intelligence Bureau’s secret fund allegedly to influence loyalty of members of the Punjab Assembly in 2009, the court summoned IB Director General Aftab Sultan to ask him about veracity of the report.
Aftab Sultan appeared but was hesitant to confirm the news. He said it was not verifiable because the purpose of using secret funds was never recorded.
Moreover, he said, the person who kept under lock and key a register about expenditures of IB funds was not available.
“Do you want to destabilise the democracy we have achieved after so much sacrificing,” the chief justice asked.
Mr Sultan said the amount had already been audited and the issue had also been raised and discussed at a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee. He said he was ready to divulge more about the matter before the court in camera.
The court asked the IB chief to submit by April 23 whatever he wanted to say in a sealed envelop for the eyes of the court only, in addition to the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for utilising the bureau’s funds and relevant rules.
In compliance with an earlier order, the editor of the newspaper, Mohammad Ziauddin, and the reporter appeared before the court. He said the reporter stood by the story, adding that the name of the source, Tariq Lodhi, who served the IB for five months, had been mentioned in the report and never rebutted.
DECLASSIFICATION: The court postponed its decision about declassification of earlier statements of former ISI chief Asad Durrani and former interior minister Maj-Gen (retd) Naseerullah Khan Babar which had been recorded in camera.—Staff Reporter
