Former Army Chief General Mirza Aslam Beg tendered an apology before Supreme Court on Friday for using "contemptuous" language in his counter-affidavit in which he claimed to have completed a hat-trick of appearances before the apex court. However, the Supreme Court asked Attorney General for Pakistan to submit commission reports on Bank of Mehran and Habib Bank for an in-camera perusal.
He was also asked to submit reasons why documents were not made public. A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez has been hearing a petition filed by Air Marshal Asghar Khan (Retd) some 16 years ago against the alleged disbursement of public money by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) among anti-PPP politicians to manipulate 1990 general election.
At the outset of hearing, the Chief Justice took strong exception to the language the former Army Chief had used in his counter-affidavit that he filed in response to the affidavit of defunct Bank of Mehran's chief Younus Habib. In his affidavit, alleging that he was forced by Mirza Aslam Beg and the then President, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, to arrange Rs 340 million in 'the national interest.'
In para 14 of his counter-affidavit, Beg said that he had completed a hat-trick by appearing before the court thrice and that he had an honour which no other army chief could possibly claim. He said that he sincerely thanked the apex court for helping him complete his hat-trick of appearing before it thrice: firstly, it was before Chief Justice Muhammad Afzal Zullah; secondly, he appeared before Chief Justice Syed Sajjad Ali Shah; and thirdly, he was now appearing before Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
"This is an honour, bestowed on me, which no other army chief can possibly claim. And yet, I wonder, "Jaanay kis jurm ki paaye hay saza yad naheen," he concluded. The court took serious exception to what it termed a contemptuous language used by the former army chief and asked him to tender a written apology.
Aslam Beg submitted his counter-affidavit through his senior counsel Muhammad Akram Sheikh before the bench. The Chief Justice admonished Akram Sheikh for his failure to properly guide his client on how an affidavit is filed. "Why you failed to ask your client not to reply in such a contemptuous manner?" the Chief Justice asked Akram Sheikh.
"Do you think such a language could be used for the court?" the Chief Justice further asked Sheikh. He directed him to call his client to the rostrum to tender a written apology and expunge para 14 from his affidavit. "Give us a written apology right now, otherwise we would take action against your client," the Chief Justice warned Sheikh.
Sheikh then asked Beg to reach the rostrum and tender a written apology before the court. Beg then moved toward the rostrum and tendered his written apology after he reached there. "With reference to my affidavit in response to the affidavit of Younus Habib, I sincerely apologise for the contents of para 14 of my affidavit, and submit that it may be deleted and not considered as part of my affidavit," Beg said in his written apology.
During the hearing, when the court drew the attention of Sheikh towards para 14 of Beg's affidavit, Sheikh first stated that the same had to be read in the context of other paragraphs as according to his client he was being maligned at the behest of Pakistan People's Party government; and secondly he had not gone through the contents of the counter-affidavit.
He said if the court desired he might be allowed to disassociate himself from the present proceedings. The Chief Justice, however, told him this was strictly between his client and him. Later, the court accepted an unconditional apology of Beg along his request to delete the controversial paragraph from his counter-affidavit. The court ruled that para 14 will not be considered to be the part of record.
Former ISI chief Lieutenant General Asad Durrani submitted under oath that he received instructions from the then army chief, General Mirza Aslam Beg, that a certain business community in Karachi had raised some contribution to support the election campaign of the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) and if he could arrange it to be distributed as per "formulae," that would be conveyed to him by the election cell in the President's office.
He said he already had stated that there was no political cell in ISI. However, political work could be done by some designated persons. He said in 1994 he was not aware in respect of Mehran Bank scandal, but as he was asked only to provide the details of the money amounting to Rs 140 million, which was spent in the election, therefore, he never tried to know that under whose instructions the said amount of Rs 140 millions was collected from the business community of Karachi, and that he did not recall whether or not he was ever cross-examined in-camera.
Akram Sheikh submitted that from the day one his point of view was that this case was absolutely based upon disputed facts. He said under instructions, he was of the opinion that a political cell was created under an administrative instrument/executive order passed by the then prime minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, through an SRO issued in 1975. He said the existence of such a political cell was unwarranted and an interference in the fundamental rights of the people of Pakistan, guaranteed under Article 17 of the 1973 Constitution and that the apex court could declare that no such political cell be allowed to continue in the security agencies.
He said the petitioner, Asghar Khan, also confines himself to the extent of existence of the political cell in ISI, "as is evident from his letters addressed to the court in 1998 and 1999." Salman Akram Raja, counsel for the petitioner, recalled that his client had prayed for a direction to the federation to initiate appropriate proceedings under criminal and election laws against the alleged givers and recipients of funds for political purposes including the respondents and the various persons named in the letter of Asad Durrani to the prime minister on June 7, 1994 and July 24, 1994 affidavit of Younus Habib who, while appearing before the court submitted that he did not want to add anything further except the statement, which he had already filed before the court.
The court directed Attorney General for Pakistan Maulvi Anwarul Haq to inquire from the federal government whether Commission's reports over Bank of Mehran and Habib Bank had been made public, and if not, reasons should be assigned and the said reports should be made available for the court's in-camera perusal.
The attorney general stated that he would submit an application for permission to go through the cross-examination on the affidavits of Asad Durrani and Major General Naseerullah Khan Babar and thereafter would assist the court as to whether in view of the developments which had taken place in the case after the statements of Younus Habib and Asad Durrani as well as counter-affidavit of ex-army chief Beg, such proceedings could be considered to be classified by the state or the courts could declare them declassified. The court directed its office to hand over photocopies of the affidavits filed by Durrani and Habib as well as counter-affidavit submitted by Aslam Beg along with authentic copies of the order sheet to the AGP during the course of the day (Friday). Later, the court adjourned the hearing till March 14.
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