Memogate: More firefights loom for cornered govt

PML-N files petition in SC seeking probe; meeting of parliamentary committee on national security to take up issue.

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE:

Despite the resignation of Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani, the government has a lot of firefighting ahead of it.

Memogate seems far from over.

Less than 24 hours after the resignation, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), moved to ensure that the controversy continues to haunt the government – cranking up the pressure with a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking an inquiry into the issue on Wednesday. The plea came despite Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s order for a probe – though the order was vague and unspecific. For its part, the government also made a supposed counter-move – calling a meeting on Friday of the multi-party parliamentary committee on national security.

But the opportunity created by the memogate is unlikely to be passed upon by an opposition that has been too busy with its own infighting to trouble the government.

That may no longer be the case.

Nawaz, in his petition, requested that the court summon the respondents, including President Asif Ali Zardari, Haqqani, Mansoor Ijaz, Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Inter-Services Intelligence chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha, and demand an explanation.

Anyone found associated with the contentious memorandum should be charged with high treason, Nawaz said, questioning that, if there really was no truth to Mansoor Ijaz’s claims, why hadn’t a defamation suit been filed against the Financial Times which was the first to break the news almost 40 days ago.

Govt’s lost all credibility, says Imran

The PTI chief, meanwhile, was singing a tune similar to that of the PML-N chief when he said that since President Zardari had been implicated in the memogate, it was crucial that a supreme judicial commission be set up to conduct a transparent investigation.

Though he welcomed the appointment of Sherry Rehman as Pakistan’s new ambassador to the US, Imran stressed that Haqqani’s resignation in no way meant that the issue could be brushed under the carpet.

The government’s investigation institutions have lost all credibility, which is why only the Supreme Court should conduct the probe, he said, addressing press conferences in Lahore.

Parliamentary committee to take up issue

With all quarters using memogate as fodder against the current set-up, the government has decided to call a meeting on Friday of a multi-party parliamentary committee on national security.

Saying it was still undecided as to who would be summoned for a briefing, Senator Raza Rabbani, who heads the 17-member committee, added that the controversial memorandum would be one among many other issues taken up during the meeting. “There are a number of issues that popped up since we last met,” Rabbani said.

The parliamentary committee on national security has representation from all parties present in both houses of the Parliament.

The parliamentary probe is a welcome step; however, the best means of conducting an inquiry would be a high-powered judicial commission, Jamaat-e-Islami Senator Professor Khurshid Ahmed said. Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir and DG ISI Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha should also be summoned to brief the members regarding the memo issue, PML-N’s Senator Ishaq Dar said in a letter to Senator Rabbani.

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Published in The Express Tribune, November 24^th, 2011.