ISLAMABAD: Former chief justice of Pakistan, Justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui, has said that he remembers it beyond any doubt that during the hearing of Asghar Khan Case in 1997, the notification for the establishment of a political cell in the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was presented by the then attorney general but he had sought privilege.
During an interview, Justice Siddiqui said the federal government has the right to claim privilege on any document and, if it is allowed, such document
is not made part of the court record.
He added that he had mentioned the presentation of this document regarding establishment of political cell in the ISI in his order which must be present in the records of the Supreme Court.
In the June 16, 1997, order of the Supreme Court by a division bench comprising Justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui and Justice Khalilur Rehman Khan, it is unambiguously stated: “Learned attorney general
(Ch Muhammad Farooq) has placed before us original letter dated 26.6.1997 addressed to him by the secretary defence (Hasan Raza Pasha) along with the document under which the ISI was created. The learned attorney general, while placing these documents before us, claimed privilege which is allowed for the time being. From the contents of the letter addressed to the attorney general, it appears that a political cell in the ISI was created in May 1975 which is still in existence.”
Internews
