Misuse of funds: Two ex-spymasters submit statements

ISLAMABAD: Two former heads of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) on Wednesday submitted their statements to the Supreme Court as the apex court resumed hearing a case pertaining to misuse of secret funds of the spy service.

A three-judge bench of the court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was hearing the case.

Though former IB chief Tariq Lodhi prayed the court to keep his statement secret but the CJ observed that he could not hide information from the court. He directed the former spymaster to share all the secret information with the Supreme Court and submit another statement.

Masood Shareef Khattak, another former chief of the IB, in his written statement submitted that former prime minister late Benazir Bhutto was not given information by the Military Intelligence and the Inter-Services Intelligence. He said it was decided to make the IB more active through increasing its funds.

Mr Khattak claimed in his statement that former army chief Gen Aslam Baig and ex ISI chief Assad Durrani were behind the no-confidence motion against BB.

He also claimed that then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan wanted to oust former PPP chairperson from politics.