Ex-CJP calls for expediting Memogate trial

Former CJP also criticises census, calls for increase in Balochistan’s NFC share

ISLAMABAD: The judicial commission formed by former chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry established that former Pakistani ambassador to the United States Hussain Haqqani had written the illegal memo at the heart of the Memogate scandal.

“The federal government should file an application for an expedited hearing of the Memogate case,” said the retired judge, now president of the Pakistan Justice and Democratic Party.

He was speaking on Friday at a press conference in Islamabad.

Chaudhry reiterated that given the recent scandal around an op-ed authored by Haqqani, the federal government should pursue a case on the basis of the report of the judicial commission, which consisted of three high court chief justices.

Meanwhile, he also questioned the legitimacy of the ongoing national census, asking how it could be held when a large number of internally displaced persons have not returned home, which could lead to the validity of the results being disputed in court.



He highlighted other discrepancies as well, such as the large number of people in the country who still do not have computerised national identity cards (CNIC).

The judge-turned-politician criticised the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics’ (PBS) decision to not register eight million overseas Pakistanis in the process, asking how they could exercise their right to vote when they are not being registered in the census.

“The census is a constitutional dispensation under Article 52 and this process has been initiated after the Supreme Court’s direction, but without completing homework,”

Likewise, he said that PBS did not give any explanation why they did not resolve discrepancies and why vital information was omitted from the census form.

He also urged the federation to double the NFC award share for Balochistan. He lamented that money which has been given for development is going to waste through corruption, adding that the education and health systems in the province remain poor.

The former CJP said the Quetta Commission report was an open charge sheet against the federal and provincial governments. He also warned the federal government that if it outsources the three major airports in the country, he would challenge it in the superior courts. Iftikhar also opposed the establishment of military courts to try militants. He made it clear that there is no chance of him pursuing an electoral alliance with former president Pervez Musharraf’s party in the next general elections.