Pakistan: Court zeroes in on spies

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In a case that shines a harsh light on the interference in the country's politics of Pakistan's army and its premier spy agency, the Supreme Court on Friday heard an admission by a former spymaster that he distributed secret funds to opposition politicians in elections in 1990.

The high court's decision to revive an almost forgotten case — which seeks to hold a former head of the military's feared Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency and a former army chief accountable for manipulating the election results in favor of an Islamist coalition — has far-reaching implications even though the events happened more than 20 years ago.

Pakistan's activist Supreme Court has surprised many in recent weeks with its red-blooded assault on the workings of the ISI in a series of cases that could challenge the armed forces' longstanding impunity from the rule of law.

In another case before the court, the ISI is accused of abducting and hiding 11 suspected terrorists — four of whom eventually turned up dead. In a hearing earlier this month, a furious Chief Justice Ifitkhar Chaudhry asked the ISI's lawyer, "Who gave you the right to hound people?"

Later this month, the court is scheduled to begin hearings on the violent chaos in the western province of Baluchistan, where the military is accused of eliminating hundreds of political activists and imposing a virtual state of martial law. The worsening crisis was the subject of a congressional hearing in Washington last month.

"The manipulative power of the ISI is diminished now. Pakistan has changed," said Ayaz Amir, a maverick opposition member of Parliament and newspaper columnist. "The media is there, the judiciary is there. Politics is not so easily manipulated as in the past."

In recent years, Chaudhry has aggressively taken on the government, especially over old corruption charges against President Asif Ali Zardari, drawing criticism that the court was pursuing a political agenda. But the new cases involving the military suggest that Chaudhry intends to hold accountable people in power more broadly — carving out a powerful role for the judiciary in the process.

On Friday, the court heard the former head of the ISI, retired three-star Gen. Asad Durrani, testify that in 1990 he was instructed by the then-army chief to distribute 140 million rupees ($1.6 million today) to the political opposition. Durrani said he understood that the money had come from businessmen.

Durrani told the court, "It is true that the orders did come from the army chief," Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg. But, he went on, "as a general of the Pakistan army, I could have said no. ... That decision was mine. I take full responsibility."