Asghar Khan case: SC gives defence ministry a month to end inquiry against army officers

The Supreme Court gave on Monday a four-week deadline to the Ministry of Defence to complete its inquiry against army officers involved in the Asghar Khan case.

A three-member bench headed by Judge Gulzar Ahmed heard the case. The bench inquired why the ministry had not initiated court martial proceedings against the army officers involved in the case. The bench said that it will review the  Federal Investigation Agency's (FIA) report after the defence ministry's reply regarding its inquiry, local media reported.

On Saturday, the FIA sought the SC’s assistance and guidance in gathering sufficient evidence regarding the case. The agency said that it had reached a dead end in the investigation despite unearthing the facts. FIA told the SC that all the key witnesses had been interrogated including the politicians.

The agency also informed the court that the case could not reach any conclusion as army officers had not given any statement of handing over money to any private person directly.

In 1996, former Air Chief Air Marshal Khan had filed a petition the SC against former Army Chief (retd) General Mirza Aslam Beg and ex-Inter Service Intelligence Chief Lt-General (retd) Asad Durrani. He had alleged the two aforementioned names of distributing money among several politicians ahead of the 1990 elections to pre-rig the polls and ensure Benazir Bhutto’s defeat in it.