Right from the beginning, former Army Chief Mirza Aslam Beg was on board - both in the process of issuing instructions and overseeing the disbursement of funds to political parties. This was stated by former DG ISI Lieutenant General Asad Durrani (Retd) on Wednesday.
While submitting a concise statement in the Supreme Court in his capacity as one of the respondents to the Asghar Khan petition, Durrani claimed he received initial orders to organize distribution of election donations through General Beg. Air Marshal Asghar Khan (Retd) had filed some 16 years ago a petition against the disbursement of millions of rupees by the ISI among anti-PPP politicians to manipulate the outcome of 1990 general election.
Durrani said the ISI was established under political control in 1975. He cited Beg's affidavit of February 23, 1997, which disclosed that political cell in ISI was created by the then Premier, ZA Bhutto. In his statement, Durrani also said the ISI responded to Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces (President of Pakistan) and all the three service chiefs as well as the chairman JSHQ and the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
"In practice, however, the Army Chief wields more power over the ISI than any of its other "bosses"; not only because of his extraordinary status in the national polity, but also because most of the ISI's senior appointments including its Director General are the serving soldiers," Durrani argued. He added that all accounts were maintained by the officers belonging to various MI detachments, and funds were placed in temporary accounts. According to him, details can be provided on a confidential basis.
"Only after the disbursements were over, the balance was transferred to a special fund of the ISI adding since records were meticulously maintained, all transactions can be accounted for," Durrani stated. He sought permission of the Supreme Court to submit additional points. According to him, the ISI does have the mandate to carry out "this task" and has often reiterated the same during the proceedings of the case.
Besides General Beg's reference on the subject, the petitioner, Air Marshal Asghar Khan, in his letter of January 30, 1999 to the Chief Justice of Pakistan, acknowledges that "the charter of the ISI makes it clear that it can be used by the Chief Executive of the Country to finance political parties". He said the then Chief Justice of Pakistan, Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui, in his order on June 16, 1997 was pleased to refer to the documents placed before him by the Attorney General: "It appears that a political cell was created in the ISI in May 1975, which is still in existence".
"Decision to disburse election donations through the ISI may well have been taken by the President, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, who having handpicked the caretaker government including Prime Minister [Ghulam] Mustafa Jatoi, as de-facto Chief Executive. The operation was therefore lawful and it followed an established chain of command," Durrani maintained in his concise statement.
"However, as I had stated when called upon by the Hon'able Court to do so on March 9, 2012, I do not wish to merely take cover of the mandate, or of carrying out orders from the competent authority... I believe that as a General of the Pakistan Army, I also have to take responsibility for my action. In this case I followed orders convinced that it was in the Country's best interest. I seek the Court's permission to explain my decision on confidential basis; or if it pleases the court, to submit an "eyes only" paper on the subject," Durrani concluded.
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