Asghar Khan records statement about rigging of 1990 Pak polls

Nearly two decades after former Pakistan Air Force chief Asghar Khan complained about the funding of politicians by the ISI to rig the 1990 general election, he appeared before a probe committee today to record his statement.
The committee of the Federal Investigation Agency, headed by Mohammad Ghalib Bandesha, recorded Khan's statement.
Gen Mirza Aslam Beg, who was the army chief at the time, and Lt Gen (retired) Asad Durrani, who headed the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, are likely to be called by the committee, Dawn News quoted its sources as saying.
The former chief of Mehran bank, Younus Habib, who arranged the funds distributed by intelligence agencies, too would be called during the probe.

Last month, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan announced the formation of the committee to investigate the case. He said it was set up in line with an order issued by the Supreme Court last year.
The panel has been asked to complete its investigation in six months.

The Supreme Court had on October 19 ordered legal proceedings against Durrani and Beg for their role in the affair.
In a petition filed in the apex court in 1996, Asghar Khan accused the ISI of financing several politicians ahead of the 1990 polls to create the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad and to prevent Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party from winning.

The Supreme Court ruled there was ample evidence that the election was rigged and that a political cell maintained by then President Ghulam Ishaq Khan supported the formation of the IJI. The court further said Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Beg and Durrani had violated the Constitution.