SC says Memogate case maintainable

ISLAMABAD:
The Supreme Court on Friday declared the Memogate case to be maintainable and formed a commission to probe into the scandal.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry constituted a three-member commission which will be headed by Chief Justice Balochistan High Court Qazi Faiz Esa, while Chief Justice Islamabad High Court Iqbal Hameedur Rehman, Chief Justice Sindh High Court Musheer Alam and District and Sessions Judge Islamabad Raja Jawad Abbas would serve as members.

The court restrained former Ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani from travelling abroad. The court also directed the commission to investigate the case within a period of four weeks.

The chief justice directed the registrar to put up in his chamber the replies of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani for an order on holding of press conference by Dr Babar Awan.

Awan had earlier held a press conference along with two ministers of Pakistan Peoples Party and denounced the court’s order. In reply to which, the chief justice had termed the press conference as contemptuous. An appropriate order shall be given after a decision in the chamber, the chief justice added.

Heading the nine-judge bench, the chief justice said the December 1 order from the court on linking Haqqani’s travel to court permission will stay intact.

The chief justice also ordered Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq to take steps for securing the Blackberry conversation from the mobile phone manufacturer Research In Motion (RIM) and place it before the commission. The Canadian High Commissioner had been directed to cooperate in securing the communication.

All the nine judges had unanimously agreed to the order.

Earlie, the chief justice said that that the court has not attributed anything to Haqqani. He said that the court is not against anyone.

The chief justice said that the court has the authority to intervene if the state has violated rights in the Memogate case. He said that the Parliamentary Committee on National Security cannot stop the court from investigating the Memogate scandal.

Chief Justice Chaudhry observed that anyone who files a petition in the court does not necessarily do that for political interests and that that person might be an informant.

He made this statement in a reply to Haqqani’s Counsel Asma Jehangir’s earlier statement that the Memogate scandal was a ‘political issue’ and that anyone could try to mislead the court. She had questioned the maintainability of the petitions filed in the court.

Sharif’s lawyer Rasheed A Rizvi has compiled all the evidences.

Rizvi told the court that the procedures of law will be implemented in a better way in the Supreme Court rather than the parliamentary committee. He added that on one hand, the government has termed the memorandum as a piece of paper and on the other hand, they have called for an inquiry.


Source: Memogate Case