Asghar Khan case: Nawaz ordered to appear in person

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday issued notices to former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and 31 others in the Asghar Khan case, asking them to appear before it in personal capacity on Wednesday (today).

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar, will take up the case. The Registrar Office of the country’s top court has issued notices to 31 persons and directed the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Quaid Nawaz Sharif to appear before the court in personal capacity.

The court has also summoned Abida Hussain and Altaf Hassan Qureshi in their personal capacity. Those issued notices include Altaf Hussain, Javed Hashmi, Jam Mashooq, Ajmal Khan, Afaq Ahmad, Khursheed Shah, Ghulam Mustafa Khar, Sirajul Haq, secretary interior, defence and director general Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

Earlier on Saturday, the apex court had issued notices to at least 21 individuals, including Nawaz Sharif and Javed Hashmi in the case. The report related to cabinet’s decision was presented in the court.

The CJP issued the notices to the recipients of money. Case history: The case involves funding by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to certain politicians and others for blocking the PPP leader Benazir Bhutto’s return to power in the 1990 general elections.

The apex court has already heard this case and is now hearing the case of implementation of its earlier verdict that requires further investigation and action by the government. Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar had recently expressed his displeasure over the government’s failure to call for a cabinet meeting to discuss developments in the Asghar Khan case.

The apex court had earlier rejected a review petition by former army chief Gen (retd) Mirza Aslam Beg and former spymaster Lt Gen (retd) Asad Durrani against its 2012 verdict in the Asghar Khan case and sought a reply from the federal government regarding implementation of its 2012 verdict.

“Why has the federal cabinet not taken any decision pertaining to the case?” questioned Justice Nisar during the hearing of the case. The Benazir government had been dismissed by the then President Ghulam Ishaq Khan on a number of charges and the establishment did not want her to return through the election at any cost. The two-time Punjab chief minister Nawaz Sharif became the prime minister as a result of the 1990 elections, only to be dismissed by the same president in 1993.

An amount of Rs140 millionwas deposited in Karachi accounts by known banker Younis Habib, while a total of Rs6 million was distributed and the remaining money was transferred to a special fund.

As per the affidavit submitted by former ISI DG Asad Durrani, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had received Rs3.5 million, Jamaat-i-Islami Rs5m, Syeda Abida Hussain Rs1m, former KP CM Mir Afzal Rs10m, former Sindh CM Jam Sadiq Rs5 million, Muhammad Khan Junejo Rs2.5m, Pir Pagara Rs2m, Altaf Hassan Qureshi and Mustafa Sadiq Rs0.5m each, Maulana Salauddin Rs0.3 and miscellaneous groups Rs5.4 million.

Durrani had also added a few more names to the list of recipients of money in his letter submitted on June 7, 1994 which included Mustafa Khar (Rs2m), Hafeez Pirzada (Rs3m), Sarwar Cheema (Rs0.5m) and Miraj Khalid (Rs0.2m).