The Supreme Court on Friday set April 19 to hear a petition filed by Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani seeking equal opportunity for recording his statement through a video link from London as it was done in the case of Mansoor Ijaz, the central character in the memogate.
A 10-member special bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry will hear the petition. This petition was filed before the judicial commission probing the memo controversy by Haqqani’s counsel Zahid Hussain Bukhari.
It was also filed before the Supreme Court on March 24 by Haqqani through his counsel Asma Jahangir. The judicial commission had rejected the application and directed Haqqani to personally appear before it. The same application was pending before the Supreme Court as well for adjudication, for which the chief justice constituted a 10-member special bench on Friday to hear the petition on April 19.
Haqqani had also submitted his 82-page written statement before the three-member commission formed to probe the memo controversy stating that he contacted Mansoor Ijaz on May 9, 2011, not to draft and forward a memo but to ask him to tone down his criticism of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan Army, and the Government of Pakistan. Haqqani said in his statement that he was very active in his endeavour of damage control after the May 2 Abbottabad operation and he has been in contact with several media persons, and has also been promoting Pakistan’s point of view through the western media.
Haqqani’s counsel told the commission that his client had not declined to appear before it in person but filed a request before the commission as well as the Supreme Court for providing equal treatment to him. Bukhari said his client had been facing threats in Pakistan which is why he had applied before the Supreme Court to ask the commission to record his statement in the UK through video link. He said he could not disclose the nature of threats to Haqqani at this juncture. However, he said that Haqqani had been facing “numerous threats”.
Bukhari has pleaded before the apex court to advance a similar kind of facility to his client that the commission awarded to Mansoor Ijaz in recording his statement from London through a video link.
In his application before the Supreme Court, Haqqani said that he had “grave security concerns” because of many “frivolous” and “sensational” allegations levelled by Mansoor Ijaz, and many intelligence agencies were in contact with Ijaz as he himself had admitted it during the proceedings of the commission, and that his family feared for his life in case he travelled to Pakistan.
Haqqani stated in his statement before the commission that he had no role in creating/drafting or delivering the alleged memorandum to the US Joint Chief of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen which was first reported in the Financial Times by Ijaz. Haqqani said that he was waiting to submit his detailed statement once Ijaz submits his entire evidence in support of his claims. He said there was no human witness to support Ijaz’s claim that he had drafted and delivered a disputed memo to Gen James Jones for onward transmission to Mullen under his (Haqqani’s) instructions because Ijaz’s assertions were false.
I predicts that the SC will cave in and the criminals will once again didtate to the court the terms of engagements. So much for independent and brave judiciary.
The news says Hussain Haqqani “requested equal treatment from the court, to be allowed to present his testimony via video link, same as Mansoor Ijaz was”
HH is a Pakistani citizen and Mansoor Ijaz is a rich foreign double agent who has spitted venom against Pakistan, army and ISI, Hussain Haqqani has not. Mansoor Ijaz has written the memo and delivered to the US general, Hussain Haqqani has not actually done that. It is like a person who conspired, committed and admitted a murder try another man for all his actions with the mere excuse that “he told me so”. Only PCO judges can make such person who actually did the “work” their star witness and the chief prosecutor. In any other court the actual perpetrator of the crime is tried and punished first not honored.
Haqqani left Pakistan with the promise that he will return on a four day notice. He broke his promise. He was living in the PM house with full govt. security. Now he says he does not feel secure in Pakistan. If a resident of the PM house does not feel secure then we really have to wonder if there is ANY place in Pakistan that is safe. He has made one excuse after another for not coming back. It diminishes his credibility.
The US double agent has confirmed that he wrote and delivered the memo to the general no doubt about it. If it is the main issue, it is solved case closed. Why is PCO court and rightwing parties in love with this hate monger against Pakistan? It only gives the message to the world that “anybody who spits venom against Pakistan is loved by our generals and courts”. More people should follow the example of MI and do what he did to Pakistan. Never was a court where the main criminal actor is acting as prosecutor and friend of judges.
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