The Supreme Court of Pakistan sent home packing the first prime minster of the Pakistan People's Party-led government, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, when he did not show inclination to write to the Switzerland authorities on Swiss bank accounts contending that the president enjoyed constitutional immunity. Subsequently, he was disqualified for taking part in elections. The second prime minister, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, narrowly escaped such a snub by the apex court when he agreed to write the letter.
The letter was consequently written. The insistence of the SC to get its verdict implemented portrays a history of the superior judiciary going to any extent in getting its decisions being acted upon. However, it sound rather odd that the SC has never laid such an emphasis in getting many of its other decisions implemented. The verdict on Air Marshal Asghar Khan's petition is one of them. The SC issued a short order in the case on October 16 last year after a lapse of 16 years and the detailed judgment came about a month later. Asghar Khan filed the petition in 1990 when Justice Syed Nasim Hasan Shah was the Chief Justice of Pakistan. But he did not take it up for political reasons and personal political whims.
The SC agreed with the petition's contention, that the former Chief of Army Staff Gen Mirza Aslam Baig and former ISI chief Lt Gen Asad Durrani had doled out a hefty amount of Rs140 million to help anti-Benazir Bhutto leaders to form Islamic Democratic Alliance months before October 1990 elections to prevent Ms Bhutto from regaining power. The money was withdrawn from the Mehran Bank and its chief executive Yonus Habib stated as such in the SC. Gen Aslam Baig and Durrani also confirmed the accusation in their affidavits. However, the SC ruled that the Pakistan Army as an institution was not involved in the biggest political scandal of the history. The former military officers also set up an election cell to monitor elections and make sure that their scheme worked.
The SC, in its verdict, confirmed that money had changed hands for the specific purpose of manipulating the election process and to bring about a result that suited those in authority and it did not matter that the popular will was sabotaged in the process.
The politicians and journalists who were accused of receiving the said money were big in the country's politics and journalism. The money they received were big amounts. They included Jamaat-i-Islam, and leaders of MQM chief Altaf Husain, JI-patronized journalist Altaf Hussain Qureshi, Maulana Salahuddin and Mustafa Sadiq also received big money. PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif was accused of receiving of Rs3.5 million, former KP chief minister Mir Afzal Rs10 million, interim prime minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi and interim chief minister of Sindh Jam Sadiq Ali Rs5 million, former prime minister Muhammad Khan Junejo Rs2.5 million, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada Rs3 million, Muzaffar Hussain Shah Rs3 million (twice),Yousaf Haroon Rs5 million, Syeda Abida Hussain Rs1miliion and Pir Sibghatullah of Pagara, Malik Ghulam Mustafa Khar and former caretaker prime minister Malik Meraj Khalid Rs2 million each.
No doubt the scandal falls within the definition of political corruption and the SC ruled it as such, it sounds strange that it has not been invoked during the process of the scrutiny of candidates in the forthcoming parliamentary election.
Now that the returning officers have rejected the nominations of around 4,000 candidates for the National Assembly alone, the verdict in Asghar Khan case, also known as the Mehran Bank Scandal, has not even been considered as a yardstick for examination of nominations although the two military officers hatched plots like the Memogate scandal in a concerted effort and as such practically vilified their august institution.
Nor the SC order for initiating criminal proceedings against the two by the National Accountability Bureau was implemented. It sounds rather strange that the PPP government itself, the main victim of the stinking plot, failed to initiate such proceedings against all the actors of this huge national disgrace. Ironically, Mirza Aslam Baig's political outfit -Qaumi Qiadat Party - continues to be an organization which is registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan.
Had the SC desired a strict implementation of its verdict, the MQM, the Jamaat-i-Islami and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif would have been thrown out of the coming elections race. What is apparent is that the superior judiciary and the ECP want "clean" candidates for the May 11 polls. Will this objective be achieved if the politicians involved in receiving illegal money from agencies remain in the run? The answer is a big no.
Friday, April 12, 2013
Asghar Khan case verdict not implemented?
The Supreme Court of Pakistan sent home packing the first prime minster of the Pakistan People's Party-led government, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, when he did not show inclination to write to the Switzerland authorities on Swiss bank accounts contending that the president enjoyed constitutional immunity. Subsequently, he was disqualified for taking part in elections. The second prime minister, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, narrowly escaped such a snub by the apex court when he agreed to write the letter.
The letter was consequently written. The insistence of the SC to get its verdict implemented portrays a history of the superior judiciary going to any extent in getting its decisions being acted upon. However, it sound rather odd that the SC has never laid such an emphasis in getting many of its other decisions implemented. The verdict on Air Marshal Asghar Khan's petition is one of them. The SC issued a short order in the case on October 16 last year after a lapse of 16 years and the detailed judgment came about a month later. Asghar Khan filed the petition in 1990 when Justice Syed Nasim Hasan Shah was the Chief Justice of Pakistan. But he did not take it up for political reasons and personal political whims.
The SC agreed with the petition's contention, that the former Chief of Army Staff Gen Mirza Aslam Baig and former ISI chief Lt Gen Asad Durrani had doled out a hefty amount of Rs140 million to help anti-Benazir Bhutto leaders to form Islamic Democratic Alliance months before October 1990 elections to prevent Ms Bhutto from regaining power. The money was withdrawn from the Mehran Bank and its chief executive Yonus Habib stated as such in the SC. Gen Aslam Baig and Durrani also confirmed the accusation in their affidavits. However, the SC ruled that the Pakistan Army as an institution was not involved in the biggest political scandal of the history. The former military officers also set up an election cell to monitor elections and make sure that their scheme worked.
The SC, in its verdict, confirmed that money had changed hands for the specific purpose of manipulating the election process and to bring about a result that suited those in authority and it did not matter that the popular will was sabotaged in the process.
The politicians and journalists who were accused of receiving the said money were big in the country's politics and journalism. The money they received were big amounts. They included Jamaat-i-Islam, and leaders of MQM chief Altaf Husain, JI-patronized journalist Altaf Hussain Qureshi, Maulana Salahuddin and Mustafa Sadiq also received big money. PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif was accused of receiving of Rs3.5 million, former KP chief minister Mir Afzal Rs10 million, interim prime minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi and interim chief minister of Sindh Jam Sadiq Ali Rs5 million, former prime minister Muhammad Khan Junejo Rs2.5 million, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada Rs3 million, Muzaffar Hussain Shah Rs3 million (twice),Yousaf Haroon Rs5 million, Syeda Abida Hussain Rs1miliion and Pir Sibghatullah of Pagara, Malik Ghulam Mustafa Khar and former caretaker prime minister Malik Meraj Khalid Rs2 million each.
No doubt the scandal falls within the definition of political corruption and the SC ruled it as such, it sounds strange that it has not been invoked during the process of the scrutiny of candidates in the forthcoming parliamentary election.
Now that the returning officers have rejected the nominations of around 4,000 candidates for the National Assembly alone, the verdict in Asghar Khan case, also known as the Mehran Bank Scandal, has not even been considered as a yardstick for examination of nominations although the two military officers hatched plots like the Memogate scandal in a concerted effort and as such practically vilified their august institution.
Nor the SC order for initiating criminal proceedings against the two by the National Accountability Bureau was implemented. It sounds rather strange that the PPP government itself, the main victim of the stinking plot, failed to initiate such proceedings against all the actors of this huge national disgrace. Ironically, Mirza Aslam Baig's political outfit -Qaumi Qiadat Party - continues to be an organization which is registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan.
Had the SC desired a strict implementation of its verdict, the MQM, the Jamaat-i-Islami and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif would have been thrown out of the coming elections race. What is apparent is that the superior judiciary and the ECP want "clean" candidates for the May 11 polls. Will this objective be achieved if the politicians involved in receiving illegal money from agencies remain in the run? The answer is a big no.
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