Pakistan's Supreme Court today issued notices to former ISI chief Asad Durrani and the Defence Ministry as it resumed hearing a petition against the funding of politicians by the spy agency after a gap of over 12 years.
A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry also sought records related to the case filed in 1996 by former air force chief Asghar Khan.
Among the documents sought by the bench were in-camera statements recorded in the past by Durrani, late Maj Gen Naseerullah Khan Babar and former army chief Gen (retired) Mirza Aslam Beg, and a report on the functioning of the ISI that was originally submitted to the apex court in 1998.
The bench said all these documents should be presented in court in sealed envelopes.
Asghar Khan, who recently announced he would merge his Tehrik-e-Istaqlal party with Imran Khan's Tehrik-e-Insaaf party, had filed the petition against Beg, Durrani and Yunus Habib, the former head of Mehran Bank.
The last hearing of the case was held 12 years and four months ago.'
{{/usCountry}}The last hearing of the case was held 12 years and four months ago.'
{{/usCountry}}During today's hearing, the bench said it was necessary to go through the records as considerable time had passed since the last hearing.
The bench further said the matter could not be put off for long and decided to schedule the next hearing for March 2.
At this point, a defence lawyer pointed out that former ISI chief Durrani was abroad on a private visit and would not return till March 6.
At the suggestion of Attorney General Anwar-ul-Haq, the court adjourned the matter till March 8