Asghar Khan's petition

The hearing in the petition filed with the Supreme Court by Air Marshal Asghar Khan (Retd) questioning the legality of IJI funding in the early 1990s seems to have run into troubled waters - a part of the crucial record of its hearing in the initial stages of the case is missing. Likewise, some important players whose role in that notorious anti-democracy conspiracy were also not available at the latest hearing on Wednesday. But nothing seems to be deterring the three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, from finding the truth in the matter; not only the culprits have to be identified and punished, but the role of intelligence agencies has to be defined. The petition will now come up next week - unlike before when it was in-camera - now it would be in an open and transparent manner. What new turns the case would take it's not for us to forecast. But we do believe that the open-court hearing would for the first time bring to light the darker side of the national intelligence agencies' role in subverting the will of the nation, especially at the time of elections. Since the early times of our independent national existence we have been hearing how the agencies doctor the electoral results and who did or didn't benefit. It seems a clearer picture of the intelligence agencies role in securing what they want out of a particular political development is going to emerge from the ongoing hearing into the Asghar Khan's long-dormant petition into the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency's Rs 140-million contribution in creating the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) as a counter-weight to the then Benazir Bhutto-led Pakistan People's Party. Perhaps, but for the continuing mystery of missing persons and the inhumanly treated accused after they were freed by the court by some unidentified persons, the Asghar Khan's petition would not have drawn such limelight that it does. The Kafkaesque setting that obtained in the precincts of the country's highest court was simply unbearable by any one irrespective of the side of the ideological divide he/she stood. Then there are numerous cases of missing persons, some prominent and some absolutely unknown and nothing can be done to reach the truth in that. How else would you describe this state of affairs if not diabolical? Who helped the ISI acquire this devilish role and what was the consideration that prompted the democratically-elected prime minister to create the 'political wing' in this outfit we are not going into. But the question is how this unbridled power to destroy the lives of people has been allowed to the ISI, has to be answered, especially by the successive political governments. No wonder the appointment of the ISI chief is made by the Chief Executive - the prime minister. However, we cannot underestimate the need of intelligence agencies as an essential component of statecraft. They are simply indispensable and whatever it takes they have to be adequately funded and equipped to make them equal to their task of exposing the hidden hands that are always there. And more so in our case, when Pakistan is confronted with multiple challenges, emanating as they do both from within and from outside. But that said it has to be ensured that the agencies operate within clearly defined parameters. We hope that aspect of the requirement is under close scrutiny by the concerned ministries. If new or updated rules to ensure a healthy balance between the nature of intelligence agencies' operations and the sanctity of a citizen's basic rights are necessary, that should be done. A case in point is the Army Act, which requires an urgent overhaul and revision should be one of the parliament's urgent businesses. And, most importantly, the agencies should operate under parliament oversight. Copyright Business Recorder, 2012