SC issues notices to current and former IB chiefs

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has issued notices to the current and two former Director Generals of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) in the case pertaining to the utilization of Rs270 million allegedly drawn by the PPP government from the secret fund of the IB to topple the Punjab government.

Notices have been issued to Masood Sharif Khattak, Tariq Lodhi and the current DG IB Akhtar Hussain.

During the hearing of the case on Wednesday, the Supreme Court also summoned records and information on the Intelligence Bureau’s budget and money received from the treasury between 1988 to 1990 and 2008 to 2009.

The Director Legal of the IB also presented the report in the Supreme Court. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry who is heading the three member bench hearing the case remarked that if the IB had any information it could be exchanged in-camera. The Chief Justice also directed the IB to submit documents till the next hearing of the case.

The issue was first noticed by the Supreme Court during the hearing of the Asghar Khan case after the Attorney General pointed to a story published in a English Newspaper stating that the PPP government had withdrawn funds from the IB’s secret fund to push its political agenda in Punjab.