Hearing of Memo Commission underway

ISLAMABAD: The Judicial Commission probing the memo issue started its day-to-day hearing today for knowing about the authenticity, origin and purpose of the memo, sent by Mansoor Ijaz to US military commander Admiral Michael Mullen last year.

The Commission, headed by Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman and Sindh High Court Chief Justice Musheer Alam.

On last hearing, the Commission had rejected the application of Husain Haqqani former ambassador to the United States, seeking recording his statement via video link from abroad.

All respondents would argue on the available record and evidences that have been gathered so far, the commission had ordered.

An application of Akram Sheikh, counsel for Mansoor ijaz, for closing right of presentation of Haqqani was also rejected by the Commission.

In a comprehensive application to the Commission, submitted through his lawyers Syed Zahid Bukhari and Sajid Tanoli, Husain Haqqani repeated his demand for ‘equal treatment’ with his accuser and responded to all the points raised during the Commission’s last hearing.

Haqqani said, “I am a born citizen of Pakistan. I have never sought or obtained, nor do I intend to seek or obtain, the citizenship of any country other than Pakistan, including the United States. I have never sought, nor do I intend to seek asylum in any country, including the United States.” The former ambassador was responding to the Commission’s order that he clarify reports in a section of the media.

“Although the honorable Commission was constituted to conduct an inquiry and it had been said at the outset that its proceedings would be inquisitorial in nature, it has been converted into a virtual prosecution against me without even the filing of a formal charge or registering a case,” Haqqani said in the application.

“Questions pertaining to my citizenship based on nothing other than newspaper stories, most likely solicited and planted for this very purpose, is one example of the divergence of proceedings away from the original purpose of this inquiry,” he added.

Haqqani said that from 2002 until appointment as ambassador of Pakistan to the United States, he worked as a Pakistani citizen living abroad and will be doing the same now “like millions of other Pakistani citizens who live and work abroad.”