ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court on Saturday issued notices to former primeminister Nawaz Sharif, former army chief General Mirza Aslam Beg and formerInter-Services Intelligence (ISI) DG Lieutenant General Asad Durrani in theAsghar Khan case.
DG Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the attorney general have alsobeen issued notices to appear before the apex court on August 15.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian SaqibNisar will hear the case on Wednesday.
On June 2, the Supreme Court had issued notices to Nawaz and seniorpolitician Javed Hashmi as well as 19 other civilians named in the case toappear before it.
In a reply submitted to the Supreme Court on June 9, the former primeminister had denied allegations of receiving Rs3.5 million for his 1990election campaign.
The case
On October 19, 2012, the Supreme Court issued a 141-page verdict, orderinglegal proceedings against Gen (retd) Aslam Beg and Lt Gen (retd) AsadDurrani in a case filed 16 years ago by former air chief Air Marshal AsgharKhan.
Khan, who passed away in January this year, was represented in the SupremeCourt by renowned lawyer Salman Akram Raja.
Khan had petitioned the Supreme Court in 1996 alleging that the two seniorarmy officers and the then-president Ghulam Ishaq Khan had doled out Rs140million among several politicians ahead of the 1990 polls to ensure BenazirBhutto’s defeat in the polls.
The Islamic Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI), consisting of nine parties includingthe Pakistan Muslim League, National Peoples Party and Jamaat-e-Islami, hadwon the 1990 elections, with Nawaz Sharif being elected prime minister. Thealliance had been formed to oppose the Benazir Bhutto-led Pakistan PeoplesParty.
In 1996, Khan had written a letter to the then Supreme Court Chief JusticeNasim Hassan Shah naming Beg, Durrani and Younis Habib, the ex-Habib BankSindh chief and owner of Mehran Bank, about the unlawful disbursement ofpublic money and its misuse for political purposes.
The 2012 apex court judgment, authored by the then-Chief Justice ofPakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry, had directed the Federal Investigation Agencyto initiate a transparent investigation and subsequent trial if sufficientevidence is found against the former army officers.