In its detailed verdict on Asghar Khan’s petition on Thursday, the Supreme Court (SC) ordered a probe into allegations against the Intelligence Bureau’s (IB) distribution of Rs270 million in Punjab for political purposes during 2008-2009.
De-linking the case from Asghar Khan’s petition, the court order registered the news item about IB’s secret funds published in The Express Tribune on March 14 this year as civil miscellaneous application (CMA) and fixed it for regular hearing after two weeks. The court also issued notices to the IB director general (DG) and Attorney General Irfan Qadir along with the publishers, printers and reporter of The Express Tribune for assistance in the case.
The news item, titled ‘Govt withdrew millions from Intelligence Bureau’s account’, maintained that the incumbent Pakistan Peoples Party government withdrew Rs270 million from IB’s secret fund in order to push its political agenda in Punjab.
Recently, lawyers affiliated with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have also filed a petition in the SC, requesting it to decide this issue and other transactions the PPP leadership has made in pursuit of political interests since 1988. Alleging that the ruling party had rigged past elections, they cited incumbent Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf’s use of his discretionary funds in his constituency as a case of pre-poll rigging as well.
The court may club these applications for hearing.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 9th, 2012.
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