Interference in politics: Former ISI chief blames Gen Beg for poll rigging
Former intelligence chief Asad Durrani said funds for rigging the 1990 elections were distributed to political parties at the behest of the then army chief General (retd) Mirza Aslam Beg, with tacit approval, if not outright support, of the then-president Ghulam Ishaq Khan.
Durrani’s allegations come a day after the central protagonist in the case, Mehran Bank’s former chief Younis Habib, blamed Beg for the rigging scandal.
Meanwhile, the petitioner, Air Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan, suggested the court commence treason proceedings against Beg and his accomplices for subverting the Constitution. As government officials, all respondents violated their respective oaths while rigging the 1990 general elections, Khan submitted in a written application to the three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Therefore, appropriate proceedings under criminal and election laws are merited, Khan said.
The chief justice, however, said that “at this stage, all are innocent before us because there were contradictions in the stances of the respondents.”
‘Air of superiority’
Earlier, the court took exception to Beg’s ‘contemptuous’ statement submitted in response to the affidavit submitted by Younis Habib on Thursday.
Justice Khilji Arif Hussain ‘reminded’ the bench that five years ago, on March 9, 2007, “we also fought against [Pervez Musharraf] for sanctity of the courts.”
“Your air of superiority remains unchanged, along with your mantra of ‘bloody civilians’,” remarked Justice Khilji Arif Hussain.
Furthermore, Beg had ‘thanked’ the court for completing his ‘hat-trick’ of appearances before the Supreme Court in this case.
“Jaane kis jurm ki payee hay saza, yaad naheen (What crime am I being punished for, I don’t remember)” Beg wrote in his statement.
The chief justice was not amused.
“Mind your business. You are not here for a round of golf,” the chief justice said.
The ‘contemptuous’ content was deleted from his statement after Beg submitted a written apology to the court.
Durrani blames Beg, president
Former director-general Inter-Services Intelligence Asad Durrani said that the money was distributed to politicians on the directives of the then-army chief Beg and then-president Ghulam Ishaq Khan.
“I received instruction from the COAS Mirza Aslam Beg that a certain business community in Karachi had raised some contribution to support the election campaign of the IJI [Islami Jamhoori Ittehad], and if I could arrange for it to be distributed as per the formulas (sic) that would be conveyed to me by the election cell in the President’s office,” Durrani said in his statement.
Bank records
Beg requested that the court obtain transaction records from banks used for disbursing the funds.
The chief justice asked the attorney general to inquire from the federal government if former inquiry commission reports regarding Mehran Bank and Habib Bank have been made public. If not, the reports should be made available for the court’s use in-camera, the chief justice said.
The attorney general sought permission to go through past records of cross-examinations on the affidavits.
Political cell in ISI
The former army chief stated that a political cell in the intelligence agency was created under an administrative instrument, or executive order, passed by former premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1975.
The existence of such a cell is unwarranted and interferes with the fundamental rights of the people of Pakistan, Beg said.
This court could declare that no such political cell be allowed to continue in the security agencies, he added.
In his statement, Beg stated that he believes this case is entirely based upon disputed facts.
Various Pakistan Peoples Party governments do not spare any opportunity to tarnish the image of the judiciary and the armed forces, he alleged.
(Read: Echoes from the past)
Published in The Express Tribune, March 10th, 2012.
Correction: A statement of Justice Khilji Arif Hussain had been incorrectly attributed to General (retd) Mirza Aslam Beg in an earlier version of this article. The correction has been made.
COMMENTS (32)
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@Kitabistan:
It is pretty easy to point your finger towards at the obvious. This is not my religious take, but the rot has set in at every level. One cannot be sure how much milk is there in that water. Everyone does his utmost to make the best of his situation---of exploiting others. The fish start rotting from the top, I am aware of, but we cannot fool ourselves into believing that the magic wand will fix everything in 90 days.
We are all in it. Honesty has disappeared long ago, is an undeniable fact.
@Abid P Khan: Well your doodhwala. shopkeeper, policeman etc etc are not the ones who have, in the lust of power, crippled Pakistan economically, ideologically and completely destroyed the fabric of society that binds together a modern nation state. It is the generals with their flawed policies of ideological indoctrination of the public, myopic foreign policy and constant meddling in affairs that are so far out of their legal boundaries that have left Pakistan in a state of constant limbo. Everything from sectarian violence, intolerance, economic mismanagement etc can be traced back to the doings of military dictators.
@Laila: "The nation must note that the generals are still not behaving." Aren't you cherry picking? Is the doodhwala beyond critique, or the shopkeeper, policeman, bureaucrat, lawyer, doctor, pharmacist, politician etc etc????
May be we need to learn a lesson from our neighbours in India, both from their army and politicians . They have an army with the sole purpose of defending their country and a politicians to run their government. Their Generals are ruled by the elected representatives as happened in the case of their current army chief., whereas as our Generals dictate the political system, rather than the defence of Pakistan.Their politicians may be equally corrupt but they have transparent way of working and a sound election system.Our politicians masqurade as an honest and religious person after mis using crores of peoples money, whereas an Indian politician is most likely to end up in jail and ruin his political career if and when found in similiart situation.
ISI and Pakistan Army long live because these two departments are the most noblest,highly respectable and honorable and the guarantee and assurance of Pakistan's and its nation's security,protection,integrity,self-reliance and sovereignty and no any government can run and complete its tenure without ISI's and army support and backup.
Does the present hubris of the judges augur a brighter future? The efficiency of the justice system is illustrated well by keeping Asghar Khan's case buried over the years. Is the CJ improving his CV?
When is the last application date for that vacancy in International Court of Justice, Den Haag?
Nothing Sir actually no one tries to understand what ails us. The real problem is the parliament that is nothing but a jagirdar's club. All their power is derived from humongous land holding. People living there are their slaves.
Our so called democratic government does not care about reducing their power which is simple - introduce land ceiling. Overnight they have to look for jobs. Until then they wouldn't know how difficult it is to earn.
Then distribute the excess land among the landless poor. See how Pakistan changes from a lawless state to a law abiding one and will scale the height so success no one has imagined so far. If not such things will keep happening.
pak army best won all wars kargil 1965 1971 lol - bangladesh will region oops sry theeir economy is better than pak's ooops lol
Pakistan is seriously a messed country - the army has NEVER one a war not even close - 1965/1971 -took half the country and the ppl worship them ?....lol there is a lot of uneducated and zaid hamid ilk there ...lol
When the facts are so clear about MIRZA Aslam Beg sponsored rigging , with admission of the bank officials, whats left to prove when the chief justice says "The chief justice, however, said that “at this stage, all are innocent before us because there were contradictions in the stances of the respondents.” It makes me very suspicious. Is this all a farce and drama by the court ?
The Supreme Court will not and can not initiate treason cases against former Generals of the Army. It does not have the guts for this. Army will keep its holy cows sacred all the times.
Two provider,no witnesses,no documentary evidence on the record prima facia to pay the amount.
The persons has been involved by Younis Habib,denied allegations leveled against them.
what would happened in the case?nothing.
Judiciary and executive separation law had been promulgated, in the same way,army and politics separation law must be promulgated.
Younis Habib is a brave man, who bowed his head before the apex court for justice. others must be followed him.
A technical game was played, investigator must be highest qualified.
I have seen a man, selling his children,who were sitting on the donkey cart, This is a sign of good governess.
On the other hand, trillions,has been collected by taxes,being distributed among the leaders of the nation. who are promising with the people passing through starvation like conditions,let them become prime minister/president would destroyed poverty within a short time ,you never think.
It is also sign of good governess.
It is enough to open eyes of the people of Pakistan,voters and supporters of the political leaders.In view of the scandal it prove the leaders of major political parties are not well wisher of the poor people of this country.They are in fact,gamer of upper class,Fundamental aim of them to earning money by illegal means.They are political actors of the film named ''looting and plundering the wealth''
Huge money is deposited in the foreign banks,palaces are constructed in the native places,common man is deprived from cycle but they have helicopters as personal property.large number of police forces is appointed for their safety and due to lack of security laborer facing street crimes, crime graph is going up with high speed and going to touch the red alert..
Politicians,direct or indirect obtain bank loans in trillions and subsequently get right off the same,ultimately,burden of the weak economy falls on the poor people in shape of different taxes.
No sacred angels would come from the heaven,we would have to do all,no doubt democracy is better than dictatorship and judiciary is a balance wheel of whole system but we shouldn't our role as people of Pakistan.
In the last, i would like request all the citizen of this country,in forthcoming general election reject all crocodiles swallowing ourcountry's economy by their evil character.
Pakistanis want justice to be done in this case. All the facts must be laid before the court, in black and white. Court records must be public, no secret, in-camera trials and records. Pakistani people pay the salaries and perks of judges, generals, and politicians, and they are entitled to know the shenanigans of all these.
Bogus trial will hurt the Supreme Court's credibility and disillusion the people.
Justice must be done based on hard facts and evidences and not opinions. Hope justice prevails.
@Sam: "So whatever small time duration since independence for which pakistan had democracy was also fake and rigged"
Sadly it appears whatever you say seems to be true.
I come to believe from Bangladeshi press that ISI was also playing the game in Bangladesh.
For years the trembling Court refused to entertain Asghar Khan's petition. Now that they are holding the hot potato, let us see how they conduct the proceedings. This is a black and white case and it will be closely watched if Justice prevails or an escape route is created by the Court for the culprits to rejoice.
So whatever small time duration since independence for which pakistan had democracy was also fake and rigged.
“Mind your business. You are not here for a round of golf,” the chief justice said. wow! Am I dreaming? what a change in Pakistan. Great job judiciary! Lets bring them to account.
It is good to see law take its court and the court asserting its authority. Khakis with gun can not be an exception and same is true for the rest of legislature & civil bureaucracy !!!
Mirza Aslam Baig has brought a bad name to the valiant and patriotic Army of Pakistan.
There was never any Real Independent Civilian Rule in this Country from the day of its creation ....???
The central character in rigging the elections obviously is Baig and Ghulam Ishaq Khan is the one was played second fiddle to Baig. So, on the face of it, Beg is the primary person of interest with regard to rigging the elections and subverting the Constitution. Therefore, Asghar Khan’s request to the Court for trying Baig for treason comes to reason.
Baig, Durrani and all the beneficiaries of ISI subversion of the Constitution should face treason charges. Yes, they must include the two Sharif Brothers, who will sing like a canary when judgement is delivered against them. This time the Saudis should not interefere.