Asghar Khan petition: Supreme Court seeks 1998 report on ISI functioning

Report made by court in 1998 currently sealed, unavailable with the court.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan sought the 1998 court report on the functioning of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) during the hearing of air marshal (retd) Asghar Khan’s petition on Wednesday.

On May 27, 1998, the court had made a report on the functioning of the ISI and the money it hands out, but the report was sealed. Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, during the hearing today, expressed concern over how the sealed records were not available with the court.

The chief justice ordered that the records be found and presented to the court during the next hearing on March 8.

The court also sent a notice to a key respondent, ex- ISI chief Lt Gen Assad Durrani, for the second time and termed his presence in the court as vital to the case.

Then army chief General Mirza Aslam Beg and Durrani had submitted affidavits in the 1998 case, but they got sealed along with the report.

Advocate Suleman Akram Raja, representing Asghar in the case, asked the court to find Durrani’s new address, and added that the previous notice was not delivered as he had shifted his house.

Durrani’s lawyer told the court that his client is out of the country and will not return before March 7, obliging the court to adjourn the hearing till March 8.

Asghar’s petition alleges that the ISI distributed money among several politicians before the 1990 elections.