Asghar Khan case: Rehman Malik, Younus Habib refuse to appear before FIA

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party leader Rehman Malik, Imtiaz Sheikh and Younus Habib refused to appear before the Federal Investigation Agency in relation to the Asghar Khan case.

According to sources, FIA had issued summons to Rehman Malik, Younus Habib, Imtiaz Sheikh, Advocate Yousaf Memon, Jam Mashooq, and Jam Haider Afaq for appearance today.

Today, only Memon, Mashooq and Afaq appeared before the FIA. Sources said that Rehman Malik told FIA officials on the phone that he is trying to save himself from the media, which is why he didn’t appear in the case.

While speaking to Geo News, Rehman Malik said that the FIA did not summon him but wrote a letter seeking guidance.

He said that when the Asghar Khan case happened he was the Additional DG FIA and was ready to guide the FIA under the law.

Malik said that he received the FIA’s letter late and due to sickness he couldn’t go for the hearing.

Younus Habib in his written letter said that he didn’t appear as he is unwell.

Sources said that the PPP leader Imtiaz Sheikh also refused to appear before the FIA in the case.

The case

On October 19, 2012, the Supreme Court issued a 141-page verdict, ordering legal proceedings against Gen (retd) Aslam Beg and Lt Gen (retd) Asad Durrani in a case filed 16 years ago by former air chief Air Marshal Asghar Khan.

Khan, who passed away in January this year, was represented in the Supreme Court by renowned lawyer Salman Akram Raja.

Khan had petitioned the Supreme Court in 1996 alleging that the two senior army officers and the then-president Ghulam Ishaq Khan had doled out Rs140 million among several politicians ahead of the 1990 polls to ensure Benazir Bhutto's defeat in the polls.

The Islamic Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI), consisting of nine parties including the Pakistan Muslim League, National Peoples Party and Jamaat-e-Islami, had won the 1990 elections, with Nawaz Sharif being elected prime minister. The alliance had been formed to oppose the Benazir Bhutto-led Pakistan Peoples Party.

In 1996, Khan had written a letter to the then Supreme Court Chief Justice Nasim Hassan Shah naming Beg, Durrani and Younis Habib, the ex-Habib Bank Sindh chief and owner of Mehran Bank, about the unlawful disbursement of public money and its misuse for political purposes.

The 2012 apex court judgment, authored by the then-Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry, had directed the Federal Investigation Agency to initiate a transparent investigation and subsequent trial if sufficient evidence is found against the former army officers.

The investigation is yet to conclude.