Opinion Matters of the heart

Memogate continues

Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani,who is at the centre of the Memogate scandal,filed an application in Pakistan’s Supreme Court,urging the court to recall its ordered probe into the issue because it denied him freedom of movement,without a hearing,reported The Express Tribune on December 11. Last week,through his reply submitted to the Court along with the application,Haqqani denied any knowledge of the controversial memo. On December 1,a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court had sought Haqqani’s reply and issued a restraining order on him from travelling abroad until all the nine petitioners,including PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif,had been heard. The application was returned to Haqqani’s counsel Asma Jahangir after the court’s registrar said a review petition should have been filed instead. “We will file an appeal against the rejection of the application before exploring the option of filing a review petition,’ Asma Jahangir told reporters,according to The Express Tribune. On December 11,it was reported that Haqqani filed an appeal against the registrar’s decision to return his application. Some respite came his way when Pakistan’s chief justice set aside the registrar’s decision to return his application.

Daily Times reported on December 15: “Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry,while rejecting the Registrar Office’s objections to the appeal of Husain Haqqani against the court’s December 1 order… ordered on Wednesday the hearing of his miscellaneous petition before a nine-member larger bench on December 19.”

General statements

The most startling episode in the Memogate enquiry so far was reported by Dawn on December 16. “Both Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani and ISI Director General Lieutenant General Shuja Pasha,in their first official and public statements on the memo scandal on Thursday,dropped a bombshell by acknowledging the document and expressing satisfaction with the evidence provided by American businessman Mansoor Ijaz.” Their replies were submitted to the court’s registrar by Attorney General Anwarul Haq. Kayani’s reply stated: “There may be a need to fully examine the facts and circumstances leading to conception and issuance of the memo,” and underscored that the episode “has an impact on national security and attempts to lower the morale of Pakistan army”. Pasha demanded a detailed investigation,saying “access to unadulterated truth and justice is a right of the people of Pakistan,the real sovereign masters of this country”. Pasha asked the court to summon Ijaz and impound the computers,cell phones and BlackBerry phones belonging to Haqqani and Ijaz,which he said would “render necessary assistance” to the commission.

Unaided,unapologetic

The swift slide in US-Pakistan relations gave its biggest jolt to cash-strapped Pakistan as US President Barack Obama signed the legislation passed by the Congress to freeze the $700-million aid to Pakistan. A statement was issued by Pakistan’s Foreign Office on December 15: “We believe that the move in the US Congress is not based on facts and takes a narrow vision of overall situation,hence wrong conclusions are unavoidable.”