Mehran Gate Scandal; Asghar Khan Case

Petitioner: Air Marshal (Retd.) Muhammad Asghar Khan

v/s

Respondent: General (Retd.) Mirza Aslam Baig, former Chief of Army Staff & others 

On 11. 06. 1996, Maj. General (R) Nasirullah Khan Babar – the Interior minister at that time – made a speech to the National assembly and presented them with an affidavit dated back to 1994 and which was sworn by the former Director General, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lt. General (R) Asad Durrani. The affidavit stated that various sums of money was distributed to a number of “politicians/political parties forming part of IJI (Islami Jamhoori Ittehad)” in order to enable them to win the election of 1990. The speech was made at the time when the PPP (Pakistan’s people party) was in the government. In the affidavit, Asad Durrani clearly stated that in September 1990, he received orders from Gen. Mirza Aslam Baig to retrieve ‘logistical support’ (in form of monetary funds) and distribute them to the election campaign of IJI. He performed the following actions in order to comply with the instruction given to him; 

• “Opened a few cover accounts in Karachi, Quetta and Rawalpindi.

• Money – eventually 140 million rupees – was deposited in Karachi accounts by one Mr. Yunus Habib.

• As required amounts were transferred to Quetta and Rawalpindi accounts.

• A total of 6.0 million rupees were distributed as directed by the COAS or at times directly by the election cell in the Presidency.

• The remaining money was transferred to a special fund.”      (H.R.C.19 of 1996, Asghar Khan Case)

Prior to the 90’s elections, Gen. Mirza Aslam Baig withdrew around 15 crores from the Mehran Bank and distributed them to various people. This was allegedly done with the blessing of the Government.
The people who received the money comprised of Khar with the amount of 2 Million, Hafeez Pirzada who got 3 Million, Sarwar Cheema who received 0.5 million and Mairaj Khalid who got 0.2 Million.
The remainder of the funds were, as stated in the letter of Asad Durrani, either transferred to the ‘K’ fund account of ISI or perhaps given to the External Intelligence director. This operation of misconduct and misuse of funds was done under the full knowledge of the president and with full cooperation of the caretaker prime minister. 

The issues that are relevant to this case comprise of the following:

1. An important question from this case arises is what was the role of the auditors of the State bank of Pakistan and the statutory auditors in Mehran bank. Were they simply negligent or were a “beneficiary”

2. Whether the president has authority to create an election cell or to manage in any manner or by giving directions to the armed forces or to civilians to make efforts to achieve desired results?

3. Does ISI or Mi have any role to play in the political activities?

But most importantly, the fundamental issue that arises is that whether;

4. The General of Pakistan army who was serving at that time had any right or obligation to channel funds obtained through the channels of ISI and other means at his disposal? And whether that counted as the subversion of the law?

The fundamental problem of ‘gross misconduct’ against Gen. Mirza Aslam Baig was that of illegal money distribution and wrongful interference with the election in order to favour some politicians over others and stepping over the public’s right in the process of doing so.

Owing to the principles of Freedom, Democracy and equality which shall be fully observed, the constitution of Pakistan states that the people of Pakistan have the full right and honour to parliamentary and democratic order and a strong political system should be established without any eminent threats, forces or influences.
This suit was seen and perceived as a Human rights case based on the fundamental rights of the public; as per the article of 184(3) Pakistani citizens have the free right to elect their chosen representatives in the elections by their own will, in a fair manner and in accordance with the law without any influences, threats or interference. However, the evidence that was presented before the supreme court made it clear that the election process that was done in 1990 was polluted and corrupted by a few as they supplied money to their favoured political parties so that they could win the elections and in doing so, they deprived the public of the basic right to elect their own representatives. The “election cell” was created by the president to provide financial assistance, under the guise of ‘logistical support’ to achieve their desired results. 

Moreover, it was mentioned above that the election cell was created by the president and also that the operation of illegal distribution of the money had the blessing of the government and was performed under the full knowledge of the president. As per to this, the president is to be held liable according to the article 41 of the constitution and the oath that the president takes in office, which essentially denotes that a person who hold office in the government of Pakistan will treat everyone with equality and will do right by all of them through the same manner with fear or favour or ill will. However, the president violated these laws when he acknowledged and authorised the operation and consequently depriving the people of Pakistan of their fundamental right. 

Furthermore, any individual who holds the office in the government or has any kind of influence is not allowed to favour a political party or person or create an election cell for the fear that they will take away the element of fairness, honesty and free election process of the public representatives during the election. This rule extends to the president, Chief of Army staff, Armed forces, the intelligence officers and ministers etc. Again, this rule was violated by a number of people in the 1990 election when they chose to carry out the operation of financial assistance to their favoured parties. 

However, it was also noted that the act of this operation was to be held against the individuals and not the institutions that they represent since they were the ones that corrupted the process with full knowledge and some people who were a part of the same institution did not participate or acknowledge this operation of gross misconduct. 

The chief justice appointed to this case, while giving his judgement and the reasoning for it, stated in no unclear terms that while the ISI and MI and armed forces protected the borders of Pakistan and they provided assistance to the federal government of Pakistan but that is where their duty and assistance ends. They do not and cannot play a role in the elections or formulation or destabilisation of the political parties nor can they favour any political party over the other and provide assistance (financial or otherwise) to that party. He claimed that they do not play any role in the process of election, and by doing so they have violated the public rights as well as the civil law. 

The Ex- chief executive of Habib Bank limited, Mr. M. Younas A. Habib, at the instruction or direction of the orders of the above mentioned (persons involved in the operation) withdrew 140 million from the public account or the national funds account and provided them to the functionaries. Out of this 140 million rupees, 60 million was distributed to the politicians. People who contributed to the operation called it something that was of national importance however, in general it was seen as directly and through corrupt means taking funds from the public and using it for illegal activities and pursuing their own self-interest. 

“In early September, Mr. Yunus Habib then serving in the Habib Bank Ltd., as Zonal Chief had called on the answering respondent and informed him that he was under instructions from the President’s Election cell to make available a sum of Rs. 140 million for supporting the Elections of 1990. He had stated that he will be available to collect this amount through his own efforts from his community as donations and that he was under the instructions of the Election Cell to place this amount at the disposal of the Director General Inter Services Intelligence who would handle this amount as per instructions of the President’s Election Cell.”  (H.R.C.19 of 1996, Asghar Khan Case)

As per the article 245 of the constitution, the armed forces or the officers are subject to law and under the direction of federal government they are to protect Pakistan from external threats or play a role in the civil procedures when there is a need and when they are called upon to do so but not when it is unwarranted. The law prevents them from taking part in the civil elections and yet with this operation and the participation and the cooperation of the chief of army staff and several of the army officers including Brig (R) Hamid Saeed Akhtar, Brig (R) Amanullah,  Lt. Col (R) Eqbal Saeed Khan, Lt. Col (R) Ejaz, Lt. Col (R) Mir Akbar Ali Khan and Lt. Col Salman Butt – they acted against the law and again subsequently violated the public right of fair and honest elections. 

The judgement was given in favour of the petitioners as the judges ruled that the president of Pakistan, Late Ghulam Ishaaq Khan, General Aslam Baig and Asad Durrani acted against the constitution and violated the laws for which legal action should be taken against them. They assisted and favoured and facilitated a political party against their rivals through disbursement of money to enable them to win which as the law and the constitution states are wrongful acts. In addition to going against the principles and the rules they have also brought a bad name and reputation against Pakistani nation and its armed forces. Similar actions and legal proceedings will be taken against the chief executive of Habib Bank through whom the funds were arranged and retrieved with full awareness of the act, also including the politicians and individuals who received the money from the perpetrators of this operation. 

According to the law, necessary steps will be taken along with the legal proceedings to recover and retrieve the money that was distributed to put things in the right motion.