Memogate: Judicial Commission issues notice to Zardari

The three-member Judicial Commission constituted by the Supreme Court to probe memogate issued a notice to President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday.
The president has been asked to clarify his position regarding the alleged memo.
During its last meeting, the commission had decided that notices would be issued to all parties linked with the memo scandal.
Previously, the president had not submitted his reply to the Supreme Court during the preliminary hearing of the memo case despite the fact that Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and ISI DG Ahmed Shuja Pasha submitted their replies. A reply on behalf of the federal government was, however, filed.
The commission formed to investigate memo scandal has already sent notices to former US National Security Advisor James Jones, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Ahmed Shuja Pasha and others included in the probe.
The first meeting of the commission was held at the Islamabad High Court building. However, neither Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, nor the ISI DG appeared before the commission on the first meeting.
Former ambassador Hussain Haqqani’s ex-counsel in the case Asma Jehangir has refused to appear before the commission, saying that she has ‘no confidence’ in the judicial commission constituted by the Supreme Court to investigate the memogate scandal and refused to represent former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani in the case. The commission will hold its next meeting on January 9.
The commission was set up by the Supreme Court when it ruled that petitions in the memo case were maintainable. Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Justice Qazi Faez Esa, IHC Chief Justice Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman and SHC Chief Justice Justice Mushir Alam are members of the commission.