Memogate case maintainable: SC

Pakistan

Memogate case maintainable: SC

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Supreme Court declared maintainable set of petitions filed in connection with inglorious memo case.

30 December,2011 06:56 pm

The 9-member Supreme Court bench in its short order constituted a commission to probe the matter in a transparent manner.The commission will comprise Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Chief Justice of Balochistan High Court, Justice Iqbal Hamid ur Rehman Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court and Justice Qazi Faez Isa will be the chairman of the commission. Raja Jawwad Abbas Hassan, District & Sessions Judge, Islamabad is appointed as Secretary to the Commission.The newly formed commission will offer chance to all parties involving the case. The commission members will have all the powers of a judicial officer.The Commission is authorized to garner evidences within the country and without and the government will responsible for provision of all facilities to the body. The ambassadors of the US and Britain will extend every possible help to the commission.It is worth mentioning her that the court has also decided that parliamentary committee can also hold the probe into the memo case.The SC said it will investigate the scandal surrounding an unsigned memo seeking Washington s help to rein in the powerful military, a decision that is bound to pile pressure on the weak civilian government.Pakistan’s then ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, has been accused of writing the memo on behalf of the government after US forces killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in May.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.The Chief Justice also directed Registrar Office to submit at the chamber the draft of Babar Awan’s press conference held against the SC verdict on December 1 and PM’s reply over the conference. The court will decide about Babar Awan’s press conference, the short order unanimously signed by all judges says.The nine-member larger bench of SC headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan heard the petitions. Petitioners included M. Tariq Asad Advocate Supreme Court Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar & another, Iqbal Zafar Jhagra & another, Lt Gen ® Abdul Qadir Baloch & 2 others, Raja Muhammad Farooq Haider Khan & another, Syed Ghous Ali Shah & 2 others. Hafeez-ur-Rahman, Shafqatullah Sohail.