PTI mulls opening another legal front against Nawaz

Party chairman decides to seek implementation on Asghar Khan case verdict of 2012

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday decided to open up another legal front against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif - this time demanding implementation on a 2012 verdict of the Supreme Court in the Asghar Khan case.

The verdict determined that Sharif and other politicians received money from an intelligence agency prior to the 1990 general election to form an alliance against the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

The PTI will file a petition in the apex court, most probably next week, through its counsel Fawad Chaudhry.

A decision to this effect was taken during a meeting chaired by PTI chief Imran Khan at his Bani Gala residence. The meeting discussed developments over the Panamagate case, Dawn Leaks issue, Asghar Khan case implementation and PTI’s mass contact drive and its future political strategy.



“Through the petition, the Supreme Court will be requested to initiate contempt of court proceedings against the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for not implementing the apex court’s 2012 orders in the Asghar Khan case,” said Chaudhry, also a PTI’s spokesperson.

In November 2012, the Supreme Court had released a 141-page verdict while disposing of a 16-year old petition filed by Air Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan.

The FIA was tasked to hold a thorough probe into a disbursement of Rs140 million in bribes among several politicians, including the incumbent Prime Minister, to form an anti-PPP alliance before the 1990 general election.

The agency was also asked to conduct criminal investigations, if sufficient evidence was collected, against all involved. It was also directed to hold legal proceedings against then chief of ISI General (retd) Asad Durrani and then army chief General (retd) Mirza Aslam Beg.



By the end of 2013, the FIA had formed a four-man probe committee which had recorded statements of some politicians named in the scandal, including Prime Minister Sharif and General (retd) Durrani. However, General (retd) Beg refused to appear before the probe committee.

Prime Minister Sharif had testified before the committee on October 14, 2015, but the investigation is still pending.

In a related move, the Lahore High Court (LHC) had, on October 31, 2016, dismissed a petition seeking implementation of the Asghar Khan case verdict.

The petition had been filed by the PTI through its lawyer Fayyaz Mehr. Even though the petition was filed in 2012, the LHC only took up the matter in 2016.