Pakistan Court Resurrects Election Tampering Investigation ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - After an unexplained 13-year pause, Pakistan's top court revived a probe into alleged election rigging by the country's main spy agency on Wednesday, but was then forced to delay proceedings when it emerged that crucial evidence was missing. A three-judge Supreme Court bench, led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, resumed hearings into allegations that the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate paid $6.5 million to a right-wing opposition alliance to influence the outcome of the 1990 election. The case has explosive possibilities in a country where the ISI has a history of meddling in politics yet its officials have largely escaped judicial censure. But analysts are divided about its chance of success. Wednesday's hearing was cut short after the court heard that statements recorded in 1998 by three key witnesses, including former ISI chief Asad Durrani, could not be found. A lawyer for Mr. Durrani said his client had left Pakistan. Justice Chaudhry ordered court officials to find the missing documents and summoned Mr. Durrani to the next hearing on March 8. The "Mehrangate" scandal, as it is known here, came under scrutiny in 1996 when Asghar Khan, a retired air force officer and politician, asked the court to investigate claims that the ISI donated $6.5 million through Mehran Bank to the opposition in advance of the 1990 polls. The ISI, it was said, wanted to oust the then prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, in favor of the Islami Jamhoor-Ittehad, a coalition of conservative and religious parties headed by Nawaz Sharif, who went on to win the election. Early hearings of the case brought striking revelations that embarrassed the military. Mr. Durrani, the former ISI chief, told the Supreme Court that the money had been distributed on the instructions of his then boss, army chief Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg. General Beg, in turn, claimed he had done so on the orders of the then-president, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, who opposed Ms. Bhutto. The hearings stopped in 1999 after the military coup that brought Gen. Pervez Musharraf to power but were revived in January at the instigation of Justice Chaudhry, who is eager to disprove critics who accuse him of going soft on the powerful army. The resurrection of Mehrangate has potentially stark implications for certain politicians. Among the recipients of the ISI funds was Nawaz Sharif, the current opposition leader, who allegedly got $1.6 million. Should the charges stand, Mr. Sharif could be barred from public office, along with other prominent politicians like Syeda Abida Hussain, a former ambassador to Washington. But just how far the court is willing - or able - to go against the ISI, one of Pakistan's most powerful institutions, remains to be seen. On Wednesday, the court heard that a confidential statement recorded by Mr. Durrani in 1998 had disappeared - as had separate statements by Naseerullah Babar, a former interior minister who died last year, and Younis Habib, a businessman and banker who helped distribute the illegal funds. Lawyers and analysts said the statements form the backbone of the case against the ISI, and Justice Chaudhry directed his staff to find them before March 8. Moreover, two key figures in the affair - Mr. Babar, the former interior minister, and Mr. Khan, the former president - are now dead. Many in Pakistan are skeptical that the case will be successful against the ISI. An editorial on Wednesday in the leading English-language daily Dawn expressed doubts that the case could "become a transformative moment in the history civil-military relations." The newspaper noted that the petition filed by Mr. Khan, the retired air force officer, does not seek action against former army generals. And, it continued, any direct action against the politicians accused of accepting illegal funds "is unlikely to occur."