No law can force me to return home: Haqqani

Former ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani, who is currently defending himself in the memogate case, has said that he was only demanding equal rights as per the law from the court in the memo case and has not sought any concessions.
Talking to a private TV channel, Haqqani said that he was handicapped from traveling to Pakistan only because of health and security issues.
“Had these considerations not been there, I would have returned to the country without any further delay”, he maintained.
“I have fully cooperated with the memo commission earlier, and am eager to record my statement even now”, he asserted.
“However, if my doctors do not allow me to travel, what should I do”? he questioned while arguing that this was the reason for him to seek permission for recording statement via video link.
“I stayed in Islamabad for a couple of months, but everybody was waiting for Mansoor Ijaz during that period”, he recalled, adding that it was not impossible for the authorities concerned to allow him permission for recording his statement through video link in light of his constraints.
Responding to some voices within Pakistan to bring Haqqani back to Pakistan by hook or crook, the embattled former ambassador said that there was no such provision in law.
“Millions of Pakistanis live abroad, but there is no such law that could force them to return to their country”, he observed.
When asked about his expectations from the memo case in the next hearings, Haqqani opined that the case had lost its steam. “I believe the story of memo has come to its logical end and only the commission’s proceedings are left behind”, he asserted.
It may be mentioned here that the Supreme Court, during a hearing on Tuesday, had disposed off Husain Haqqani’s petition seeking recording of his statement via video link. A nine-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, observed that it was up to the memo commission to record the testimony of Husain Haqqani from abroad or summon him in the country for the purpose.