ISLAMABAD: Being the army chief, General (r) Mirza Aslam Beg right from the beginning was on board both in the process of issuing instructions as well as overseeing the disbursement of  funds to political parties, said Lt-Gen (r) Asad Durrani on Wednesday.
Aslam Beg, last week in a statement, denied his involvement in distributing money allegedly by the ISI among the politicians to topple the late Benazir Bhutto government. It is worth recalling that the former chief of army staff stated he maintained from the very outset of the case and he had absolutely no connection with the disbursement of donations ordered by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, adding that he merely possessed knowledge just because of being the army chief.
The then DG ISI Durrani in a concise statement submitted in the Supreme Court said: “I received my initial orders to organise distribution of election donations through him. Though, the subsequent instructions were at times conveyed by Mr Ijlal Haider Zaidi, a member of the President’s election team, I kept the army chief fully informed,” he added. He stated that Beg was now trying to absolve himself of any role in the distribution of funds to various recipients. According to Durrani, the institution of the ISI was brought under political control way back in 1975, while Beg’s affidavit dated 23-2-97 says a political cell was created in the top spy agency by the then prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
“Be as it may, ISI as an organisation responds to multiple centres of power: the president, in his capacity as the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces; the three service chiefs and the chairman JSHQ; and indeed the prime minister,” says Durrani.
“In practice, however, the army chief wields more power over the ISI than any of its other ‘bosses’; not only because of his extraordinary status in the national polity, but also because most of the ISI’s senior appointments including its director general are serving soldiers.”
The former intelligence chief said all accounts were maintained by the officers belonging to various MI detachments and funds were placed in temporary accounts, while details could be provided on confidential basis.
“Only after the disbursements were over, the balance was transferred to a special fund of the ISI. Since records-were meticulously maintained, all transactions can be accounted for.”