As the secretaries of defence and foreign affairs recorded their preliminary statements before the parliamentary committee on national security over the memo issue on Wednesday, members belonging to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz expressed their inability to be part of the proceedings because their party was a respondent in the same case being heard by the Supreme Court.
A source told Pakistan Today that during the meeting of the parliamentary committee, PML-N members Senator Ishaq Dar and MNA Sardar Mehtab Khan Abbasi expressed their inability to go ahead with the proceedings because their party had moved the Supreme Court over the issue. However, committee chairman Senator Raza Rabbani rejected their plea and urged them to continue to be part of the proceedings due to significance of the matter. The source said the treasury benches did not want the PML-N to stay away from the decision of the committee, which is dominated by members belonging to the PPP and its allies.
The source said the PML-N members also called for opening the committee meeting for the media, as was the case with apex court proceedings. However, the committee with majority did not agree and decided in principle to keep the proceedings in-camera. The two-hour meeting also deliberated upon the diplomatic and economic impacts on Pakistan.
Talking to reporters later, Rabbani said the committee had rejected the plea of PML-N members to skip the proceedings. He said the committee had sought, through the attorney general, details of the statements of Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani, Inter-Services Intelligence Director General Lt General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, Husain Haqqani, Mansoor Ijaz and others.
He said the secretary defence and secretary foreign affairs had recorded their statements and also submitted some documents relating to the memo issue.
To a question, Rabbani said there was no deadline set for completing the probe into the issue and it had been decided that the committee would come up with a consensus report and no difference of opinion would be reflected in it.
He said the committee had already evolved a framework therefore there were minimal chances of any difference of opinion in findings the committee’s report.
However, it remains to be seen whether the PML-N members join the committee’s further proceedings.
It looks no one is willing to give deal to mr president. So he is left with this committee which which will try to counter the SC and offensive statements of Mr Babar Awan and in case SC take action against him,new entrant Mr Latif Khosa is already practicingin media to get the Shahada status.
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