SC to continue hearing Asghar Khan case

Islamabad: The Supreme Court on Friday decided to not close Asghar Khan Implementation Case and sought reply from Defence Secretary in a week. Amid the hearing, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar said that if Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has no authority than the case can be given to other departments. Salman Akram Raja was appointed as judicial assistance in the case. Earlier, the legal heirs of late air chief Air Marshal Asghar Khan had pleaded with SC to not shut the case, rather it should reach a logical conclusion and the outcome should be put forth the general public. A case was filed by the late former chief of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) retired Air Marshal Asghar Khan alleging that country’s intelligence agency had provided  large amount to the politicians in the 1990s to form the Islami Jamhoori Itehad (IJT) in order to prevent PPP from winning the polls of the general elections. The case has been shrouded in complexities as many former army officers including former army chief Aslam Beg and PM Nawaz Sharif were involved. A detailed judgment was reached in November 2012 by 3 member bench of SC. The decision stated that action should be taken against those involved. The detailed order also stated that the late president Ghulam Ishaq Khan, former army chief Aslam Beg, Lt. General (retd) Asad Durrani, acted in violation of the Constitution by helping politicians to secure their success against their opponents in the elections of for which they received funds from Younis Habib. In light of this decision, a team of FIA had investigated the case under the supervision of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Additional Director General Galib Ali Bandesha, but the inquiry was never completed. Investigation into the case again picked up in April 2015 with FIA Director General Akbar Khan Hoti forming a joint investigation team (JIT) under the supervision of FIA Additional Director General Khalid Qureshi including FIA Punjab Director Dr Usman Anwer and some other senior directors of FIA as members of the team. The JIT was formed on the orders of former interior minister Nisar calling the team to finalize the case and speed up its process.