‘N’ undecided on course of action in memo affair

While Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif has demanded an independent inquiry committee instead of a judicial commission to investigate the Zardari-Mullen memo controversy, the party’s Deputy Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal has called for a Supreme Court tribunal to probe the issue.
The variety of opinion among party leaders reflects the lack of consultation among party leaders on important issues. The memo allegedly sent by President Zardari to former US military chief Admiral Mike Mullen through Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz sought the US administration’s influence to prevent a military coup feared by the Presidency. Nawaz demanded an inquiry committee comprising members of civil society, legislators and lawyers to investigate the rumoured memo. While giving a 15-day deadline for the committee’s formation, the former PM rejected the idea to form a judicial commission to handle the issue. Talking to reporters in Model Town, Nawaz said the government’s failure to form the proposed committee would indicate something fishy in the affair. He said the national security was at stake and the controversial case was too important to be ignored. “If we ask for a commission to investigate the controversy, it will be like putting the issue on the backburner. We strongly demand an inquiry committee to be set up by the chief justice of Pakistan. We want a committee instead of a commission because the Abbottabad commission, which was formed to investigate the US raid, has not delivered any results so far. Its meetings are held for a few hours after several months. The commission’s style of work shows that the matter is being silenced,” Nawaz said.When asked about Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Nawaz said he would meet the former foreign minister on November 22 and expected him to join the PML-N. He said his party had not finalised the decision to resign from assemblies en masse, but was considering the option. He also rejected allegations by government members that his party was using “undemocratic tactics”, saying the PML-N would not support any unconstitutional move.
Later at a press conference in Model Town, the PML-N deputy secretary general said that all roads went to the President’s House on the memo issue, adding that Zardari’s attempt was meant to compromise security institutions. “We demand a Supreme Court tribunal to hold accountable those behind the heinous game,” he said. About PML-N’s rally in Faisalabad on November 20, he said the party chief would address the gathering and announce their future strategy. When asked about impeaching the president, he said the step required 51 percent votes in legislatures which PML-N did not have. However, he added that the present government had lost its utility and would go soon.