ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Monday formed a nine-member larger bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to hear the memo case from tomorrow (Tuesday), Geo News reported.
The bench would be headed by the Chief Justice and comprise of Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan,Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja,Justice Khilji Arif Hussain,Justice Tariq Parvez,Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, Justice Amir Hani Muslim,Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry and Justice Sh. Azmat Saeed to hear the constitutional petitions regarding the alleged memo delivered to Admiral Mike Mulen US Joint Chief Staff.
The Commission, constituted by the Supreme Court has submitted its report on June 11th, in sealed covers, therefore, the matter has been fixed in Court for opening of the report and passing appropriate orders.
The Registrar office also issued notices to the petitioners through their counsel and the learned Attorney General for Pakistan.
The three-member memo commission headed by Justice Qazi Faiz Isa was set up last year in December on the orders of the apex court. The commission was asked to probe into the scandal that came to the fore after some serious allegations were made against the former Pakistan ambassador, Husain Haqqani by a US citizen Mansoor Ijaz.
Ijaz alleged that former ambassador Husain Huqqani after the Abbotabad episode had asked him to write a memo to the US official seeking support for the civilian government.
The commission investigating the allegations held 24 marathon sessions recoding statements of scores of concerned persons including that of the prime character Mansoor Ijaz’s on video link, while the statement of Husain Haqqani could not be recorded as he like Ijaz on the pretext of security demanded video link facility, which the commission didn’t accede and, thereafter, Huqqani despite repeated summons refused to come to Pakistan.
Memo commission secretary, session judge Jawwad Abbas today submitted the sealed probe report at the office of the Supreme Court.