ISLAMABAD: The commission probing into the Memogate scandal finalised on Monday its report after 23 days of proceedings and directed its secretary to forward the findings to the Supreme Court.
The scandal started when Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz claimed in May last year of having received a message from then Pakistan’s ambassador to US Husain Haqqani to deliver a confidential memo to Admiral Mike Mullen asking for US assistance against a possible military takeover of the civilian government.
The commission, comprising three provincial chief justices, told a media briefing that its findings had been finalised and secretary Raja Jawad Abbas has been directed to forward the report to the Supreme Court.
The commission also thanked former attorney general of Pakistan Maulvi Anwarul Haq, Deputy Attorney General Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, legal counsels of both parties and the staff of the Islamabad High Court for their cooperation during the proceedings.
ilanid! a `(o the unrest in Balochistan. He revealed that to address the political issues of the province, the prime minister has constituted a political committee. Law Minister Farooq H Naek, Senator Raza Rabbani, Chengez Khan, Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Riasani and two of his ministers are part of this committee.
The committee is slated to report to the prime minister on its progress on a weekly basis.
Unregistered vehicles
Meanwhile, the court sought a comprehensive report from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) regarding unregistered vehicles and motorbikes in Balochistan.
A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, served a notice on the FBR chairman and asked how many vehicles and motorbikes were banned in compliance with the court orders.
During Monday’s hearing, no one on behalf of the secretary of Excise and Taxation appeared to brief the court about the details of unregistered vehicles. The court repeated its notice.
The court also accepted application of five cellular companies to become party in the case. They were asked to file their statements before next date of hearing, before adjourning the hearing till June 11.
COMMENTS (2)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
The judiciary is wasting tax payer money on assumptions and political innuendo. How low it is going to get, it is destroying our reputation as a functional and viable state by knowingly siding with sentiments, predisposing the nation for an eventual implosion. The issue is our judges consider themselves the fountain of wisdom and ultimate authority on almost every thing. For last four years, it looks courts have jurisdiction for every thing. Have you ever heard, in a civilized society, Supreme Court questioning the powers of parliament to amend the constitution? This only happens in our country. Our judicial system has been hijacked by a bunch of lawyers. It is time to create a separate unconstitutional court where judges are appointed for limited time only so that there representation of society as whole. The memo commission just bites the dust and they had to because they were trying to find out something out of nothing.
After four long months, the memo commission tasked with investigating Mansoor Ijaz’s claim against Husain Haqqani and his political bosses has brought to an end its formal hearings. What’s left now is for the commission to compile its report and recommendations and submit them to the Supreme Court, a process that may be completed by early June. At that point, it can only be hoped that the Mansoor Ijaz memo will once and for all be confined to the dustbin of history. For in all the months of hearings held by the memo commission, nothing that can be considered serious grounds for further legal proceedings has been presented before the commission. That three high court chief justices have spent months sifting through the allegations and counter-allegations over memogate is bad enough; to waste more time of the superior judiciary on the matter would compound the original error.