SC issues notices in memo scandal
30 June, 2012
ISLAMABAD: Fixing the hearing of the memo scandal case for July 12, the Supreme Court issued notices to all respondents, including Pakistan's former ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani. A nine-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry will hear the case. It must be noted that the memo commission had established in its report submitted in the Supreme Court of Pakistan that the memorandum was authentic and that former ambassador Husain Haqqani was its originator and architect. The commission had also concluded that no evidence was produced before it that could indicate that President Asif Ali Zardari had either authorised the preparation of the memorandum or directed that it be sent to the American administration. It had said that Mansoor Ijaz had failed to satisfy the commission that the president had prior knowledge of the memorandum. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif had also appeared before the Supreme Court in the case and requested the court to investigate the matter. "It has been incontrovertibly established that the memorandum was authentic and Husain Haqqani was its originator and architect. Haqqani sought American help; he also wanted to create a niche for himself to make himself indispensable to the Americans. He lost sight of the fact that he was a Pakistani citizen and Pakistan's ambassador to the United States of America," the commission's report had said. In his reaction on June 12, Haqqani had described the report of the memo commission as "political and one-sided". He had said that his lawyers would address the legal flaws of the process relating to the creation and proceedings of the commission before the Supreme Court of Pakistan. "The commission's report has been released to distract attention from other more embarrassing developments," he had said alluding to the allegations against the chief justice's son Arsalan Iftikhar. Husain Haqqani had said that he had nothing to do with the memorandum and the commission might have come to a different conclusion if it had heard him out. End.
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