Haqqani asks SC to set aside memo commission report

ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistani ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, on Monday requested the Supreme Court to set aside the Memo Commission report, saying that the process adopted by the Commission had made a mockery of fundamental rights, which ensured protection of the individual’s reputation.

He also contented in his five-page reply submitted through his counsel Asma Jehangir that he was not provided equal opportunity to defend himself before the law with due process and that the Commission exceeded its jurisdiction as it was assigned to probe the authenticity of the memo but had itself put him on trial.

The Memo Commission, constituted by the apex court on June 11, established that the memo was indeed written by Haqqani to Admiral Mike Mullen. In his reply, Husain Haqqani maintained that he had no role whatsoever in authoring and authorising the disputed memo sent by Mansoor Ijaz through General James Jones to Admiral Mike Mullen. “No evidence has been presented or recorded by the Commission that establishes my role in authoring or authorising the memo, which also posed no tangible threat to Pakistan’s national security as claimed at the time of the creation of the Commission to probe its origin, authenticity and purpose,” Haqqani said.

He claimed that all the documents presented by Mansoor Ijaz in his cross-examination were rejected on technical grounds.In his and his counsel’s absence throughout the proceeding, the forensic tests carried out were ex-parte and one-sided,” Haqqani said.

He prayed to the apex court that the report of the Commission be set aside and not considered so that full justice could be done and discrimination against him could be rectified.Similarly, in his reply to the Commission’s findings, the former envoy reaffirmed his commitment to remain available for recording his statement by video-conference from Washington DC at any time and in person whenever the security situation improved and his health got better.

He contended that he was a born citizen of Pakistan and had never sought or obtained, nor did he intend to seek or obtain, the citizenship of any country other than Pakistan, including the United States.

“From 2002 until my appointment as ambassador of Pakistan to the United States I 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”, Husain Haqqani submitted.

It is pertinent to mention here that after the findings of the Commission, a nine-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on June 12 ruled that Husain Haqqani had to respond to the findings as recorded by the Commission.

The court recalled that Haqqani was allowed to leave the country with the commitment on January 30, 2012 that he would appear in person on four-days’ notice whenever the court required him. The court directed Husain Haqqani to appear before the court at the next date of hearing. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has constituted a nine-member larger bench, headed by Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, to hear the memo case from July 12.