Daily Times, January 22, 2006
Take the money and run: Why this prevarication?
Ardeshir Cowasjee
In 1996, Air Marshal Asghar Khan filed a human rights petition in the Supreme Court against General Mirza Aslam Beg, former chief of army staff, Lt General Asad Durrani, former chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence, and Younus Habib of Habib and then Mehran Bank, concerning the criminal distribution of the people’s money for political purposes (HRC 19/96).
During the initial hearing of the petition, General Naseerullah Babar filed in court a copy of a bank account sheet headed “G/L Account. Activity Report. Account 12110101 G. Baig (sic.)” The column heads read “Transaction, Date, Particulars, Debit, Credit.” The numbered transactions took place between October 23 1991 and December 12 1993. The first transaction listed was “Cash-P.O. Karachi Bar Association A/C Gen. Baig (sic.), debit, 5,05,680” (advocate Mirza Adil Beg, Aslam Beg’s nephew, the then president of the KBA, confirms that the KBA received the money). In January 1992 USD 20,000 was sold @ 26.50 and 5,30,000 was credited to the account. Thereafter all debits : “Arshi c/o Gen. Baig (sic.) 2,90,000 ; Cash paid to Gen. Shab 2,40,000 ; Cash Friends 1,00,000 [Aslam Beg’s organisation, FRIENDS, Foundation for Research on National Development and Security] ; Cash TT to Yamin to pay Gen. Shab 3,00,000 ; Cash TT to Yamin Habib 12,00,000 ; Cash Friends 1,00,000 ; Cash Friends 1,00,000 ; Cash paid through YH 10,00,000 ; Cash Friends TT to Salim Khan 2,00,000 ; Cash 1,00,000 ; Cash Towards Friends 5,00,000 ; Cash Asif Shah for Benglow 35,000 ; Cash Friends 1,00,000 ; Cash Friends 1,00,000 ; Cash TT through Yamin for Friends 1,00.000 ; Cash paid to Fakhruddin G Ebrahim 2,00,000 [he confirms having received the money from General Beg as fees and expenses for defending him in the contempt of court charge brought against him – PLD 1993 SC310] ; Cash paid through TT to Yamin for Friends ; Cash paid to Fakhruddin G Ebrahim 1,28,640 [he confirms receipt for fees/expenses for contempt case] ; Cash Guards at 11-A 10,500 ; Cash TT for USD 240,000 Fav. Riaz Malik to City Bank (sic.) New York 68,76,000 ; Cash Friends 1,00,000; Cash Guards at 11-A 10,500 ; Cash Mjr. Kiyani 10,000; Cash mobile phone for Col. Mashadi 28,911 ; Cash TT fav. Qazi Iqbal and M Guddul 3,00,000 ; Cash Mjr. Kiyani 10,000 ; Cash TT to Peshawar 3,00,000 ; Cash deposited at Karachi A/C EC [Election Commission] 3,00,000 ; Cash Guards 24,000 ; Cash TT to Quetta 7,00,000 ; Cash mobile bill of Col. Mashadi 3,237 ; Cash TT to Peshawar Br. 4,00,000 ; Cash deposited at Karachi Br. 4,00,000 ; Cash Guards 11,520 ; Cash TT to Peshawar for EC 2,00,000 ; Cash TT to Quetta for EC 2,00,000 ; Cash Guards 5,760 ; Cash Mjr. Kiyani 5,000 ; Cash A/C Guards 8,640 ; Cash th. YH 2,00,000 ; Cash A/C Guards 5,760 ; Cash TT to Salim Khan 1,00,000.”
An elite host of other political figures who received funds from an ISI account were revealed in the Supreme Court whilst the petition was being heard. Inter alia, Nawaz Sharif received (in rupees) 3.5 million, Lt General Rafaqat [of President Ghulam Ishaq Khan’s election cell] 5.6 million, Mir Afzal 10 million, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi 5 million, Jam Sadiq Ali 5 million, Mohammed Khan Junejo 2.5 million, Pir Pagaro 2 million, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada Rs.3 million, Yusuf Haroon 5 million [he confirms having received this for Altaf Hussain of the MQM], Muzaffar Hussain Shah 0.3 million, Abida Hussain 1 million, Humayun Marri 5.4 million. Aslam Beg, under oath, revealed the existence of a political cell within the ISI, whilst strangely clarifying that though he was aware of the distribution of funds he was never personally involved.
Further names of anti-PPP politicians who received payments from the ISI during the run-up to the 1990 elections rigged in favour of the IJI and Nawaz Sharif were later revealed : Jamaat-i-Islami Rs.5 million; Altaf Hussain Qureshi and Mustafa Sadiq Rs.0.5 million ; Arbab Ghulam Aftab Rs.0.3 million ; Pir Noor Mohammad Shah Rs.0.3 million ; Arbab Faiz Mohammad Rs.0.3 million ; Arbab Ghulam Habib Rs.0.2 million ; Ismail Rahu Rs.0.2 million ; Liaquat Baloch Rs.1.5 million ; Jam Yusuf Rs.0.75 million; Nadir Magsi Rs. 1 million ; Ghulam Ali Nizamani Rs.0.3 million ; Ali Akbar Nizamani Rs. 0.3 million.
Yet more payments were uncovered: During the Mehrangate investigations of 1993 which led up to the Supreme Court case, Younas Habib of HBL/MBL, as per his statement filed in court, (recorded at Karachi under section 161 Cr.P.C) disclosed that the following political and other pay-offs were made between 1991 and 1994 : “General Mirza Aslam Beg Rs.140 million ; Jam Sadiq Ali (the then chief minister of Sindh), Rs.70 million ; Altaf Hussain (MQM) Rs.20 million, Advocate Yousaf Memon ( for disbursement to Javed Hashmi MNA and others) Rs.50 million ; 1992 - Jam Sadiq Ali, Rs.150 million ; 1993 - Liaquat Jatoi Rs .01 million ; 1993 - Chief minister of Sindh, through Imtiaz Sheikh Rs.12 million; Afaq of the MQM Rs.0.5 million ; 1993 Chief chief minister of Sindh, through Imtiaz Sheikh, Rs. 01. million ; 1993 - Ajmal Khan, a former federal minister, Rs.1.4 million ; 1993 - Nawaz Sharif, former prime minister, Rs.3.5 million ; 27/9/93 Nawaz Sharif, former prime minister, Rs.2.5 million ; 26/9/93 Jam Mashooq Rs.0.5 million ; 26/9/93 Dost Mohammad Faizi Rs. 1 million ; Jam Haider Rs. 2 million ; Jam Mashooq Rs. 3 million ; Adnan, son of Sartaz Aziz, Rs. 1 million ; Nawaz Sharif and Ittefaq Group of Companies Rs.200 million (photocopies of cheques and deposit slips etc already attached with affidavit at page nos. 42 to 73) ; Sardar Farooq Leghari 12/12/93 (payment set/off) Rs.30 million - 6/1/94 Rs.2.0856 million - 19/3/94 Rs.1.92 million.”
Three further payments were recorded : YH TT Peshawar A/c Sherpao for Election 5,00,000 ; Anwar Saifullah for MBL deposit 15,00,000 ; Farooq Leghari PO issued 1,50,00,000, another 1,50,00,000 paid through Bank.
The last hearing of the case was on October 11 1999, one day before the army, under General Pervez Musharraf, had little option but to overthrew the ‘heavily mandated’ Nawaz Sharif government, when the sitting chief justice, Saiduzzaman Siddiqui, announced that he had reserved judgment on the ISI case.
Before he could write his judgment, General Babar saw him in chambers and prevailed upon him to send notice to and examine Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari and others mentioned on the lists before announcing his judgment. In the interest of justice, the CJ ordered that the desired notices be issued.
Thereafter, the case was apparently ‘morgued’. Asghar on several occasions reminded Saiduzzaman’s successor, the new chief justice, Irshad Hasan Khan (who after retirement was appointed chief election commissioner to ‘supervise’ the 2002 elections), and requested him to take up the case but he received no response. Justice Khan was far too busy attending to more vital affairs.
On August 10 2002, Asghar addressed a letter to the succeeding Chief Justice of Pakistan Sheikh Riaz Ahmad, its subject “HRC No.19/96, Air Marshal (R) Mohammad Asghar Khan versus General (R) Mirza Aslam Beg.” It reads : “I should like to draw you attention to my letter MAK/12/5 addressed to your predecessor on 8 April 2000 requesting that the above case may please be reopened. I have received no reply to this letter and elections are due on 10 October 2002. Many of the people who are guilty of misconduct will, if the case is not heard, be taking part in the elections and the purpose of those elections will thus be defeated. I would request an early hearing and decision in this case.” There was no response. Justice slept.
Many of the people guilty of gross misconduct and of, in fact, corruption, did take part in the elections and are now sitting in our assemblies and the most honourable Senate. President General Pervez Musharraf himself admitted after the 2002 elections that he was helpless before the ‘system’, the parliamentary form of governance, and presumably a dishonest and corrupted election commission. He told the people that he had no option but to have in his government rogues, robbers and other criminal elements who should rightly be behind bars.
The point of now repeating all this – which has been written on several occasions prior to the last elections, is that we have scheduled elections, supposedly of the free and fair kind, coming up in 2007. Our new Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, has so far proved himself to be a conscientious and pro-active chief justice who carries the cause of justice in all departments firmly in his mind. When I met that indefatigable warrior, Asghar Khan, recently, I suggested to him, and he agreed, that he should approach Chief Justice Chaudhry and ask that his petition be revived and heard – truly in the larger national interest – so that come the next round of elections the ISI (or any other sinister organization which may in the meantime be rigged up) may be restrained from any activity relating to the elections, those people who have been deemed to be corrupt may be barred from standing for election, and the election commission may be thoroughly cleaned up and then be given full charge of holding the elections free from any interference.
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