In 1997 the role of the Inter Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) in the 1990 elections, was discussed in the National Assembly of Pakistan and it was revealed that the ISI. Directorate had distributed large sums of money to politicians. I wrote to the Chief Justice of Pakistan at the time, Syed Sajjad Ali Shah and asked him to take suo moto notice of this so that the interference of the Armed Forces in politics is put an end to. The chief justice held a hearing of this case in November 1997 and asked me whether I had a lawyer. I said that I did not think that a lawyer was necessary as this was a straightforward case and the court had proof of the ISI Directorate having distributed this money. The people who had taken the money had given receipts which were with the ISI Directorate or the government and could be made available. There was therefore nothing required to be proved. The chief justice said that it would still be better if I had a lawyer. He looked around and addressing a very eminent lawyer, who happened to be present in the court, asked him whether he would be prepared to assist me in this case. The lawyer replied that he would be happy to do so. I said to the chief justice that he was a very expensive lawyer and I could not afford his fees. The lawyer replied that he would not charge me for taking up my case. I thanked him for his generous offer but the next day going through the list of people who had been given money by the ISI, I found that this lawyer had also taken a large sum of money. I therefore engaged Mr Wahabul Khairi who very kindly agreed to take up the case for me. Mr Justice Sajjad Ali Shah held five hearings whilst he was the chief justice and after he left, two more hearings were held. The last hearing was held on October 12, 1999 by Chief Justice Mr Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqi. Since then, no hearing has been held and I have written to all the chief justices since then, except Chief Justice Dogar, asking them to take up the case. I wrote to the chief justice before the 2002 elections reminding him that if the Inter Services Intelligence Directorate was not stopped from playing a political role, no fair elections would be possible. I received no reply and the election was held. I also wrote to General Pervez Musharraf before the 2002 elections telling him that the political role of the ISI Directorate should be withdrawn if free and fair elections were to be held. He replied informing me that the ISI Directorate had no such role and took no action. I wrote four letters to Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the last on August 8, 2007, in which I reminded him that this case had been pending for eleven years, I was now 86 years old and he might therefore hold a hearing and give a decision. To this too, I received no reply. The induction of the ISI into the political field has an interesting background. In 1975, Mr Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in preparation for the election that was expected and was held in 1977 gave the Inter Services Intelligence Directorate a political role which it had not had since its formation in the 1950's. The 1977 election was massively rigged and anyone who filed his election papers against the prime minister or the chief ministers of the ruling party was arrested and imprisoned. All elections since, have been rigged in various degrees. In one of the hearings that he held, chief justice of the Supreme Court at the time, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, asked me why I thought people who were given money and were experienced politicians gave receipts for the amount that they had received. I explained that the president who had distributed the money wanted to be sure that the army officers detailed for this task, had in fact given the total amount, which ran into millions of rupees, to the persons concerned. The receipt was meant to satisfy the president that the amount had been paid. I said that receipts were available and no one could deny that he had not received the money. The role of the ISI Directorate is not limited to influencing the elections alone. It is now a major political force in Pakistan. I asked a person who had been changing his political affiliations frequently and had always succeeded in being elected, which party he was in. He said that he was always in the party that the ISI Directorate wanted him to join. This is unfortunately true of a large number of people who only need a hint from the ISI to decide about their political moorings. More recently the ISI Directorate has played a major role in bringing about political alliances in negotiations between the United States government and the political parties of Pakistan and is probably the strongest single political force that determines the political destiny of the country. It is unlikely that a military ruler or a political party once in power, would like to shed control of this powerful machine that it can use to perpetuate its power and control over the country. Pakistan is, therefore, likely to have the ISI Directorate in control of its affairs for a long time to come and we in this Islamic Republic of Pakistan, are likely to get used to this peculiar form of democracy.