Asghar Khan case verdict: Rigging proof hard to come by, says Army veteran

Retired brigadier says nothing will happen to those found guilty.


Qaiser Butt October 30, 2012

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) would not be able to collect records from the General Headquarters, or the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), on money allegedly distributed to politicians during the 1990s, said Brig (retd) Shaukat Qadir, a security consultant.

The FIA would not find anything, in terms of documentation, to establish that two former generals – Gen (retd) Mirza Aslam Beg and Lt Gen (retd) Asad Durrani – had distributed millions of rupees among their political favourites to manipulate the general elections, Qadir said.

“The FIA would not get the record of the distributed money since such transactions are not recorded on official files – they are made on verbal directives,” he added.

Qadir, a former chief of Islamabad Policy Research Institute, believes ultimately nothing will happen to the former servicemen found guilty in the Supreme Court ruling on the Asghar Khan case and the politicians who received money.

“The blame game by politicians would die its natural death after some time,” he said, but quickly added that in the future, army generals would think twice before getting involved in such “adventures”.

The generals now know they can be brought to court for their wrongdoings, he said.

Court-martial ‘impossible’

Qadir said the army would fully abide by the Supreme Court’s verdict on the Asghar Khan petition, as well as any decision taken by the defence ministry while implementing the ruling against the two retired generals.

Their trial by a military court, however, is not possible, he added. “Firstly, the army would not be able to find any general to head the military tribunal to try Aslam Beg, if, at all, it decides to put Beg on trial,” Qadir said.

Meanwhile, another high-level military source, ruled out a court-martial of the former generals. The case appears similar to the National Logistic Cell (NLC) scam, but it’s not. Why? Because the army has tried retired generals in the NLC scam since they misappropriated public money. That was not the case in the rigging of 1990 elections, the source added.

Media reports, however, say that the money used to rig the 1990 elections was taken from a public sector bank.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 30th, 2012.

COMMENTS (9)

zeb | 11 years ago | Reply

Sorry the word (righteous) used was incorrect. more suitable word could be 'right wing parties'. Well they must have received money and i am not denying that. my only point was that 1990 election was not rigged. if that be the case then every election is rigged as seat adjustment is common practice in our elections. recent re-allignment of small parties with bigger parties could also be termed as pre-poll rigging.

ishrat salim | 11 years ago | Reply

@zeb: Lol...." those election were contested intelligently by bringing righteous parties together to contest election from one platform "....you call those people who actually ganged up by taking money as " righteous " people....I can assure you, tell them to take oath on Quran to deny that they did not accept money as exposed....if these righteous people has an iota of fear from Allah`s wrath, they will not take oath.....or will accept it, which will then prove that they may have gone temporarily astray & in such case even Allah swt forgives...then you may declare them as righteous, until then NO....

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