As the memo controversy is getting more perplexed with every passing moment and the prime minister’s emotional outbursts of Thursday have virtually pitched the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government against the army, Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar has sought an explanation from Defence Secretary Lt General (r) Naeem Khalid Lodhi over the Defence Ministry’s reply submitted to the Supreme Court in the memo case.
A reliable source told Pakistan Today that Mukhtar was angry over the reply sent by the secretary in which the ministry told the apex court that it had no control over army and intelligence operations. “Ahmed Mukhtar has asked the defence secretary to explain that with whose permission and approval he submitted such a reply to the apex court,” the source said, adding that the top government functionaries were of the view that the reply submitted by the defence secretary was not in line with the government’s policy vis-à-vis handling the memo case in the superior judiciary.
The defence secretary had stated in his reply that the ministry had no control over operations of the army and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and prayed that it should not be made answerable with regards to statements of Husain Haqqani and Mansoor Ijaz. The ministry had stated further that it was not in a position to submit any explanation of the reply on the army and ISI’s behalf.
Mukhtar peeved about his ministry’s reply in memo case
