Preventive measures: Zardari travel curb plea, govt response sought

Supreme Court to hear the matter on September 3.

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court has asked the federal government to respond to a legal plea aimed at preventing President Asif Ali Zardari from leaving the country after his term expires on September 8.

On Friday, Shahid Orakzai, one of the petitioners in the Memogate case, filed an application seeking to bar Zardari from travelling outside Pakistan in light of the impending end of his term as president. He also requested the court to separate his earlier petition in the Memogate case – which accused President Zardari of withholding intelligence reports pertaining to the US operation against al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden from the country’s armed forces – from all other petitions pertaining to the scandal.

Orakzai argued that several reasons, including the National Reconciliation Ordinance case, could force President Zardari to leave the country once his term ended. Such a move, he added, would end any possible investigation into the president’s role in the Memogate case.

Following his arguments, the court issued a notice to the federal government and fixed a hearing for September 3.

The Supreme Court had previously refused to hear an earlier application by Orakzai which sought the submission of President Zardari’s travel plans before the court.

Orakzai, in his petition, had said the alleged concealment of information regarding the impending US raid in Abbottabad by President Zardari amounted to collusion with the intruders.

However, the judicial commission investigating the Memogate scandal had exonerated President Zardari, saying he was unaware of deliberations between Pakistani officials, including Haqqani, and US officials.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2013.