ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday was informed that a special court has issued a permanent arrest warrant for former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani as the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is in contact with Interpol on the matter.
Appearing as ‘amicus curiae’ (friend of the court) in the case, Ahmer Bilal Soofi appeared before a three-member bench, led by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar who heard a suo motu case pertaining to the implementation of the 2011 Memogate scandal and said that “the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) submitted challan No. 7/2018 on October 05 before a special court which has issued perpetual warrants to arrest Haqqani”.
He further claimed that “the National Accountability Bureau has authorised the FIA to proceed,” adding that “the FIA officials were in contact with the Interpol regarding the matter”.
Soofi further said, “The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has granted FIA authority and a progress report will be submitted during the next hearing.”
Justice Nisar, “I want to wrap up this case before I leave.”
The hearing of the case was then adjourned for an indefinite period.
Earlier, a special court had issued permanent arrest warrants for former ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani.
During the hearing of Memogate case headed by Special Judge Irum Niazi, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) presented its report, alleging Haqqani of embezzling $2 million.
The officials had said that the ex-ambassador is deliberately hiding to avoid arrest.
The Memogate controversy revolves around a memorandum allegedly drafted by Haqqani at the behest of former president Asif Ali Zardari and addressed to US Admiral Mike Mullen.
Haqqani was criticised by the Pakistani parliament for his column in The Washington Post in which he had written that he had helped US forces in action against Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden when the government and the Inter-Services Intelligence had been kept in the dark about the secret operation.
Pakistan Muslim League –Nawaz (PML-N) had invoked apex court jurisdiction, seeking directives for an investigation into the memo scandal.
On January 3, 2013, he left the country on a four-day notice with the commitment to come back. He, however, did not return to the country from the United States.
Haqqani had served as ambassador in the US from 2008 to 2011 and was removed for his alleged role in the Memogate controversy. He had also served as ambassador to Sri Lanka from 1992 to 1993.
Later, the Supreme Court allowed Haqqani to proceed abroad while his counsel late Asma Jahangir urged the court to grant permission to Haqqani for travelling abroad with a pledge that he will appear before the court whenever required.
On February 1, 2018, the Supreme Court constituted a three-member bench to resume hearing of the controversial Memogate case and issued a notice to Hussain Haqqani the same day.
Later that month, the apex court issued arrest warrants for the former ambassador. In an attempt to get Haqqani to appear in the court, the Federal Investigation Agency was reported to have approached Interpol on February 15 to issue red warrants for him.