The Supreme Court granted on Monday another two months to the judicial commission to complete its findings in the infamous memo controversy and allowed former ambassador Husain Haqqani to leave the country if he wanted.
A nine-member larger bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry passed the orders during the hearing of petitions filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif and others seeking action on the secret memo reportedly sent by Haqqani to former US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen to pre-empt a military takeover. The commission constituted to probe into the origin, authenticity and purpose of the alleged memo had submitted a request to the apex court through its secretary for extension in the deadline to compete the task.
FOUR-DAY NOTICE: The court also allowed Haqqani to leave the country but said that he would provide his full particulars to the Supreme Court registrar and would also be bound to return to Pakistan on four days’ notice if his attendance was required by the commission or by the court.
The court, however, rejected the plea of Akram Shaikh, counsel for Pakistani- American businessman and main character of the memo issue Mansoor Ijaz,
seeking to record the testimony of his client outside the country, and directed him to place his request before the commission for appropriate orders.
Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq appeared on behalf of the chief of army staff, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general and the Ministries of Cabinet, Defence, Foreign Affairs, Interior and Law, and Asma Jahangir represented Haqqani.
During the hearing, the chief justice revealed that Ijaz had addressed a “secret letter” to him wherein he had disclosed certain information, requesting that it should be made confidential.
“We are not aware of its authenticity. It is a cardinal principle of law that whenever a person claims confidentiality or requests the court to treat any document as confidential or classified, the court may go through it, but its status to be treated as confidential or classified document has to be decided according to law,” the court ruled in its order.
The court also said since Ijaz had engaged a counsel, it would have appreciated if he had sent such a document to the court through his counsel. “Be that as it may, at this stage, we would not be considering this document for any purpose, but the same would be kept in a sealed cover under lock by the court’s registrar,” the court said in its order.
The attorney general briefed the court about the proceedings so far undertaken by the commission. The court was told that Ijaz had not appeared before the commission, therefore some time was likely to be consumed in completing the exercise. The attorney general and Asma had no objections to granting more time to the commission to complete its task. However, Barrister Zafarullah Khan, one of the petitioners, suggested that in the absence of Ijaz’s statement, the statement of the ISI chief, who had already given his affidavit, be recorded.
“We do not want to interfere in the proceedings that are being undertaken by the commission. However, in the interest of justice, we extend the time for completion of the proceedings for a period of two months commencing from the passing of this order,” the court ruled.
Asma had submitted an application stating that her client had fully cooperated with the commission and would continue to do so and also undertook to return to Pakistan any time on four days’ notice to join the proceedings, if and when required to do so by the commission, therefore, the condition placed upon him of not leaving the country be withdrawn and he be allowed to join his family abroad.
The attorney general had no objections and the court gave Haqqani permission to leave the country if he wished, granted he would return on four days’ notice if and when required.
Shahid Orakzai, one of the petitioners, appeared in person and stated that he had raised a different question in his petition which was not raised in the petitions already entertained. In his petition, Orakzai contended that the participation of President Asif Ali Zardari in the meeting in which a resignation was obtained from Haqqani, was unconstitutional.
Meanwhile, the court issued notice to the respondents to file comments before the next date of hearing and directed to fix the petition along with others.
HAQQANI SET TO LEAVE: Haqqani is now expected to leave the country in the early hours of Tuesday, Dawn News said citing sources. It said Haqqani would be leaving for Doha on a private jet at around 4am on Tuesday, from where he would later travel to the US. Haqqani is also scheduled to meet top officials in the US.
Sources said the former ambassador met the Deputy Chief of the US Mission in Islamabad Jonathan Pratt at Prime Minister’s House, where the memo case and other issues were discussed.
“I am glad that the Supreme Court has restored my right to travel, which had been rescinded without any charges being filed against me. I will join my family in the US after discussions with the leaders of the Pakistan People’s Party,” Haqqani told an AFP reporter.
