–CJP summons foreign and interior secretaries on Wednesday, says court will reach out to Interpol for bringing former envoy to Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Tuesday summoned the foreign and interior secretaries to appear in court on Wednesday and explain why the government had not yet brought former envoy to US, Hussain Haqqani to Pakistan to face the Memogate case.
The Memogate scandal transpired back in 2011 when Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz revealed that he had received an ‘anti-army’ memo from then-Pakistan envoy in Washington DC, Hussain Haqqani, on Asif Ali Zardari’s request for US Joint Chiefs chairman Admiral Mike Mullen.
A three-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) sought details of Haqqani’s and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) head’s locus at present.
The CJP stated that the matter is now about the court and country’s honour as “a person clearly hoodwinked everybody by running away after giving a statement”.
The CJP then summoned Additional Attorney General (AAG) Rana Waqar to inquire about the government’s plan of arresting and bringing Haqqani back from the US. The AAG has also submitted an FIR against Haqqani over the misappropriation of funds at the embassy during his tenure.
Chief Justice Nisar expressed the court’s dissatisfaction with the progress in the case in all these years and termed it ‘mere eyewash’.
“We are not satisfied with the progress,” he said and stated that they will reach out to Interpol if the situation shows no progress.
Waqar stated that he had earlier submitted that the FIA had written to Interpol concerning the issuance of Haqqani’s red warrant but the agency had raised certain queries.
He added that when the court heard the matter, Haqqani and his lobby reacted by getting active against Pakistan. He requested the bench to listen to the entire matter in his chamber.
The secretaries of the interior and foreign ministries are expected to appear in court on Wednesday.
It is pertinent to mention here that the chief justice had summoned details of the Memogate case on January 29.
In a statement reported on Feb 5, Haqqani had remarked that none of the four chief justice’s after Iftikhar Chaudhry had thought much of the case, adding that it didn’t make sense to him why a three-member bench is taking up the case when a nine-member bench had heard the case six years ago.
“It has been six years since I submitted a review petition to correct legal mistakes in the case. Will the court hear this case too?” he sarcastically asked.
Furthermore, in a reference to Justice Nisar, Haqqani was loud and clear about his intentions to come to Pakistan, saying that he will not come to Pakistan on “Baba Rehamtay’s” orders, as his orders are limited within Pakistan.
Responding to reports of the arrest warrants issued for him on February 15, Haqqani had tweeted that it was “sad that highest court of Pakistan persists with such antics for local TV news coverage. Such political ‘warrants’ have not been honoured abroad in the past, won’t work now”.
