ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) proposed to nominate a sitting SC judge to probe into the scandal while hearing the Memogate case on Thursday.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, heading a nine-member bench, said: “We are ready to constitute a judicial body to investigate the case because all parties have agreed that it’s needed.”
Asma Jehangir said that her client, former Ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani also agreed to the probe but sought protection of the due process of law.
“This is the highest law forum of the country, where do I go for a solution from here?” Jehangir said. She asked the court to allow the parliamentary committee on national security to carry out an investigation.
During the hearing, Justice Jawad Khwaja observed that the parliamentary committee cannot ensure due process. Jehangir replied to this point that the very maintainability of the petition in the Memogate case was also in question because the case had political implications.
The chief justice asked Attorney General of the Supreme Court Maulvi Anwarul Haq to state why the federal government had not filed a reply in the case on whether it is accepting or refusing the statements submitted by Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and Inter-Services Intelligence Director General Shuja Ahmed Pasha.
Haq told the court that the federal government is in the process of filing a reply.
The chief justice said that Mahmood Khan Achakzai's case could serve as a good reference in deciding what the court should do in such matters.
Asma Jehangir faces difficulty in meeting Haqqani
When the chief justice inquired about a rejoinder from Haqqani, Jehangir told the court that she was having difficulties in meeting her client because of “security hazards”.
The chief justice directed the attorney general to arrange a meeting between Haqqani and his counsel Jehangir.
Jehangir told the court that she was being threatened along with her client Haqqani. She also said that she had highlighted the problem in an e-mail written earlier to the Supreme Court registrar office.
The chief justice said they would be looking into the e-mail and assured Jehangir of protection.
COMMENTS (14)
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@ Light : Parliament is an elected body which makes laws. Read Articles 141 and 142 of Constitution 1973. Read Further Chapter 3 Part 2. So an elected body, elected by the people, which makes laws is more supreme or Appointed Judges which define law?
@ naeem hussain : His party is already a petitioner in supreme court. Besides all other parties members unanimously rejected PMLN boycott.
Ishaq Dar one of the member of the parliamentary committee has said himself that committee will never be able to get the required information from the government to probe the case. @Insaf:
How can a sitting judge hold an inquiry while their partiality is also a question mark !
I think this would be wise choice to investigate the truth
"We are ready to constitute a judicial body to investigate the case" without deciding on the maintainability of the case, and we have many judges available to spare, as we have already succeeded in resolving all the pending cases.
to all the people who thinks Parliament is supreme than Supreme Court...
Please spare your few minutes and read about the legal insitutions. Also read the constitution of Pakistan.
If you face difficulty, hire a person to teach you about the differences.
Once you CLEAR idea of legal institutions and there roles and duties, only them comment on such topics.
Peace...
“Justice Jawad Khwaja observed that the parliamentary committee cannot ensure due process”
Judges are appointees. Parliamentarians are elected and aam aadmi voted for them. Let the parliamentary committee solve the case.
The "memogate" should be fully investigated and the persons behind initiating this memo and approving it should be held accountable. The Hon Supreme Court should set up a Commission to fully examine this "memogate" and submit report within 30 days or earlier.
Asma Jehangir wants to create impression of helplessness just to avoid addressing the point of maintainabilty as she knows that her client has something to hide.
Good! Something will come out of it.
This means supreme democratic institutions of the country are not able to address matters related to national security. Democracy Zindabad!
"Justice Jawad Khwaja observed that the parliamentary committee cannot ensure due process" answer to Mr.Rabbani.