ISLAMABAD, May 18: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) team investigating the Asghar Khan case will decide on Monday when to summon former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to record his statement.
The probe team led by FIA Additional DG Ehsan Sadiq is preparing ‘strategy papers’ that will outline the course of the investigation, a private TV channel reported on Friday.
On Wednesday, former army chief General (Retd) Mirza Aslam Beg and former Inter-Services Intelligence DG Lieutenant General (retd) Asad Durrani appeared before the FIA committee at separate times to record their statements.
The FIA on Tuesday constituted the committee to conduct an investigation in the Asghar Khan case. Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar on May 9 gave the federal government a week’s time to summon a cabinet meeting to determine what action to take in light of the 2012 Asghar Khan case verdict.
The attorney general (AG) and head of the FIA appeared before the Supreme Court over the implementation, or lack thereof, of the apex court’s verdict in the case filed by the late former air chief, Asghar Khan.
During the hearing, Chief Justice Saqib Nisar remarked that the court has given its order in the case and rejected the review petitions of Gen Beg and Lt Gen Asad Durrani, accused of illegally influencing the 1990 elections.
It is pertinent to mention here that on October 19, 2012, the apex court issued a 141-page verdict, ordering legal proceedings against Gen (retd) Mirza Aslam Beg and Lt Gen (retd) Assad Durrani in a case filed 16 years ago by former air chief Air Marshal Asghar Khan.
Asghar Khan, who passed away in January this year, was represented in the Supreme Court by renowned lawyer Salman Akram Raja.
Asghar Khan petitioned the Supreme Court in 1996 alleging that the two senior army officers and the then-president Ghulam Ishaq Khan doled out Rs140 million among several politicians ahead of the 1990 polls to ensure Benazir Bhutto’s defeat in the polls.
The Islamic Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI), consisting of nine parties including the Pakistan Muslim League, National People’s Party and Jamaat-e-Islami, won the 1990 elections, with Nawaz Sharif being elected prime minister. The alliance was formed to oppose the Benazir Bhutto-led Pakistan People’s Party.
In 1996, Asghar Khan has written a letter to the then Supreme Court Chief Justice Nasim Hassan Shah naming Gen (Retd) Mirza Aslam Beg and Lt Gen (retd) Assad Durrani and Younis Habib, the ex-Habib Bank Sindh chief and owner of Mehran Bank, about the unlawful disbursement of public money and its misuse for political purposes. – Sabah
