Asghar Khan petition: SC adjourns hearing till May 10

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry says next hearing might be last if ‘misplaced’ reports presented. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of Air Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan’s petition till May 10. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has said that the next hearing might be the last if the ‘misplaced’ reports are presented.

During today’s hearing, Attorney General Irfan Qadir had said that the Law and Interior ministries should find the ‘misplaced’ inquiry reports regarding Mehran Bank and Habib Bank. Qadir had earlier informed the court that the reports had been misplaced and was directed to trace the documents and submit a written reply.

The chief justice had said that an inquiry should be conducted by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to find the missing reports.

Qadir informed the court that both ministries had been directed find the reports and present them in court.

During the hearing, Asghar khan’s lawyer also claimed having confirmatory statements of General (retd) Mirza Aslam Beg and former ISI chief General Assad Durrani.

The chief justice responded to this saying, “We have to fulfill legal requirements, confirmatory statements cannot give this case a logical end”. He added that if those statements were taken, the case would have to be directed against the respondents.

The court directed General Beg’s counsel to provide bills of transferred accounts, whereas the Investigation Bureau (IB) submitted a report of distributing 270 million, which was sealed by the court.

Express News had reported that a report submitted by the Interior Ministry to the Supreme Court with regards to Mehran Bank claimed that Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif had taken Rs50 million from the bank.

The petition filed by Air Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan alleges that the Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) distributed money among several politicians before the 1990 elections.