Pak SC rejects review petitions of ex-Army chief, ex-ISI head

Pakistan's Supreme Court today dismissed review petitions moved by former chiefs of the country's army and the ISI against the court's landmark verdict holding them guilty of bribing politicians, including ousted premier Nawaz Sharif, to influence the elections in 1990.

The apex court, while hearing the Asghar Khan case in the 2012, had directed the Pakistan government to conduct a probe against former Army Chief General Aslam Baig and former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Asad Durrani for allegedly bribing Rs 140 million to some politicians to defeat slain Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Benazir Bhutto.

The three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar, rejected review petitions filed by two former military officers against the 2012 judgment.

Both Baig and Durrani had confessed to their role in bribing Rs 140 million, through a private bank, to different politicians, linked to Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) group, to use it for defeating Bhutto in the 1990 general elections.

Sharif, who had won the election to become the prime minister for the first time, is said to be the one of the beneficiaries.

The court had directed Director-General of Federal Investigation Agency Bashir Memon and Advocate General of Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf Ali to brief the court about the status of implementation of its verdict, and adjourned the hearing till tomorrow.

The case was filed by Air Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan in 1996 and it lingered until former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry gave a verdict in 2012.

The top judge, instead of directly ordering any action against the senior army officers, who had confessed to their role, asked the government to probe the case, fix responsibility and punish culprits.

So far, little headway has been made in the implementation of the verdict.