WASHINGTON – Former ambassador Husain Haqqani has refused to come toPakistan over the memogate scandal case and rather mocked Chief Justice ofPakistan over reopening of the case.
He has termed the reopening of the Memogate case a political stunt.
On January 29, while hearing a case related to voting rights of overseasPakistanis, Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar had summoneddetails of the Memogate case.
In a statement reported on Monday, Haqqani said there were four chiefjustices after chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry but none touched the case,adding that six years ago a nine-member bench had heard the case andwondered why just a three-member bench is taking it up now.
“It has been six years since I submitted areview petition to correct legalmistakes in the case. Will the court hear this case too?” he wondered.
Moreover, in a likely referenceto Chief Justice Nisar, Haqqani claimed hewill not come to Pakistan on “Baba Rehamtay’s” direction, as his orders donot extend beyond Pakistan.
The Memogate scandal erupted in 2011 when Pakistani-American businessmanMansoor Ijaz claimed to have received an ‘anti-army’ memo from Haqqani, thethen-envoy to US, for the then-US joint chiefs chairman Admiral Mike Mullen.
The scandal, taken to the Supreme Court by then opposition leader NawazSharif and several others, had led to Haqqani’s resignation.
During the Jan 29 hearing, the chief justice remarked that the purpose ofthe proceedings was to give the right of vote to overseas Pakistanis. Headded that there are some Pakistanis who promised the court to show up butdid not return.
Inquiring into the whereabouts of Haqqani, the chief justice asked if hewill also be given a right to cast a vote.
“Why don’t we issue him a notice and summon him to face the Memogate case,”the chief justice remarked. He then directed the registrar office to takeout the Memogate case file and submit it in court.
Later, the apex court set February 8 as the date when a three-member benchheaded by the chief justice and comprising Justices Ijazul Ahsan and UmarAta Bandial will hear the case.