Former CJ dislcoses affidavit with names of politicians who took money from ISI

[Naveed Yaseen]

* Former CJP quotes affidavit submitted by former ISI chief Lt Gen ® Asad Durrani in court
* List of recipients includes Nawaz Sharif, Abida Hussain, Pir Pagaro, JI

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) gave millions of rupees to different politicians during former president Ghulam Ishaq Khan’s regime and no one has ever denied receiving money from the agency, former chief justice of Pakistan Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui said on Wednesday.

Talking to a private TV channel, he said the ISI was an intelligence agency and should not interfere in politics, or be used against politicians. He said former ISI director general Lt Gen Asad Durrani had informed the Supreme Court that he had given money to politicians, ostensibly to ‘convince’ them to join the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI).

Justice ® Siddiqui told the channel that he had said at that time that the ISI’s role should not be political. He said the case was still pending in the Supreme Court at the time of the 1999 coup. He said Lt Gen ® Durrani had presented an affidavit in court, giving details of the money distributed to different politicians.

According to the affidavit, then chief of army staff General ® Mirza Aslam Baig had advised the intelligence agency in September 1990 that it should give logistic support to the transfer of funds from the business community in Karachi to the IJI during the 1988 election.

According to the written affidavit of July 24, 1994, Lt Gen ® Durrani said he was informed at the time that the step had the government’s complete support. After the orders, he said he opened a number of accounts in banks in Karachi, Rawalpindi and Quetta.

A man from Karachi named Younas Habib had deposited Rs 140 million in a bank account and the rest of the money was transferred to a special fund.

According to the affidavit, acquired by the TV channel, former caretaker prime minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi received Rs 5 million, former Sindh chief minister Jam Sadiq Rs 5 million, former prime minister Muhammad Khan Junejo Rs 2.5 million, Nawaz Sharif Rs 3.5 million, senior politician Pir Pagaro Rs 2 million, the Jamaat-e-Islami Rs 5 million, Mir Afzal Khan Rs 10 million, Abida Hussain Rs 1 million, Lt Gen Rafaqat Rs 5.6 million for managing the media campaign, Humayun Marri Rs 1.5 million, former prime minister Zafarullah Jamali Rs 4 million, Kakar Rs 1 million, Jam Yousaf Rs 0.7 million, Hasil Bizenjo Rs 0.5 million, Nadir Mengal Rs 1 million, Altaf Hussain Qureshi and Mustafa Sadiq Rs 0.5 million, Salahuddin Rs 0.3 million, smaller groups Rs 5.4 million and others received Rs 3.339 million.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...009_pg1_12