LAHORE, Sept 9: The Lahore High Court reserved judgment on Tuesday on a petition filed against its office’s decision to reject the plea for the judicial probe of the army generals, including President Pervez Musharraf, under the Pakistan Army Act on the charges of misusing public funds and receiving kickbacks in defence deals.
The LHC office had rejected the Pakistan Lawyers Forum’s petition on technical grounds, saying the actions of the president and the armymen could not be questioned by a court of law under Article 248 of the 1973 Constitution.
Thereafter, PLF President A K Dogar moved an objection petition against the LHC office’s decision with the court of Justice Raja Muhammad Sabir.
While citing a precedent, the petitioner’s counsel said, Chief Justice Iftikhar Husain Chaudhry had overruled the same objection of the LHC office raised on a petition seeking Gen Musharraf’s trial on high treason charges. The CJ heard the case on its merit after setting aside the objection, the counsel claimed.
He further submitted that the Supreme Court had also ruled in the Lt-Col Anwar Aziz’s case that the High Court had the jurisdiction under Article 199 (3) of the 1973 Constitution to hear cases involving army personnel.
He said, “the armed forces tried a former Naval chief on the charges of corruption in the accountability court.”
“It’s not that the army officers have never been tried under the Pakistan Army Act, but for a High Court to take up such a matter, there has to be some strong reasons,” the court observed while reserving the judgment.
The PLF pleaded in its petition that a commission comprising the Supreme Court judges with unblemished repute, opposition leader, and the Pakistan Bar Council’s president and secretary-general should be constituted to start investigation against all the army generals who had served from 1958 to 1999, for plundering money. The court was also requested to recover that money from the generals found guilty.
The forum also requested the court that during the course of the petition Gen Pervez Musharraf, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen Aziz, Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool, former interior minister Moinuddin Haider, Lt-Gen Muzaffar Usmani (retired) and Lt-Gen Muhammad Afzal Janjua (retired) should
be restrained from alienating their assets to avoid judicial probe.
The petitioner alleged that former air chief marshal Abbas Khatak had allegedly received Rs180 million kickbacks in the purchase of 40 old Mirage fighters, while another air chief marshal, Feroze Khan, had received five per cent commission on the purchase of 40 F-7 aircraft worth $271 million.
In 1996, he alleged, the army had bought 1,047 GS-90 jeeps for $20,889 each vehicle against the market value of $13,000 each unit. He quoted the NAB sources as claiming that some senior army officials had pocketed Rs510 million out of this deal.
He also alleged that 111 armymen got 400 plots in Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan at a a throwaway price of Rs47.50 per kanal against the actual price of Rs15,000 to Rs20,000 per kanal. Another 35,000-kanal land was distributed among them, the petitioner alleged.