Commission’s report says Haqqani behind controversial memo
ISLAMABAD: The memo commission’s report submitted in the Supreme Court stated that Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, was not loyal to the country and that the memo seeking US support was indeed real and authored by Haqqani, DawnNews reported.
A nine-member larger bench of the Supreme Court was on Tuesday hearing constitutional petitions about the controversial memo delivered to former US military chief Admiral Mike Mullen reportedly by Haqqani.
The bench, headed by the chief justice, comprised Justices Mian Shakirullah Jan, Jawwad S. Khawaja, Khilji Arif Hussain, Tariq Parvez, Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, Amir Hani Muslim, Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry and Azmat Saeed.
During the hearing, Haqqani's counsel Asma Jahangir said that a hearing without issuance of a notice was unusual.
The court reissued notices to all those party in the case and ruled that Haqqani should appear at the next hearing.
It court also directed that the memo commission's report be made public.
During the hearing, Chief Justice Iftikhar said that the court would analyse the report and determine what facts have been stated in it.
Reissuing notices to those party in the case, the court adjourned the case’s hearing for two weeks.
Earlier on Monday, the three-member memo commission, headed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa, had submitted its report to the apex court. It stated that the memo was indeed real and authored by the former ambassador.
The commission's report said that Haqqani had forgotten that he was Pakistan's ambassador to the US.
The report moreover said that Haqqani violated the country's constitution, adding that while Haqqani was earning a salary paid by the government, his loyalties were not with Pakistan.
The former ambassador chose not to stay in Pakistan, the report said, adding that neither did Haqqani have any property in the country, nor did he have any bank balance.
The commission moreover said that the purpose of writing the memo was to convince American authorities that Pakistan's civilian government was US-friendly and that it was only the civilian setup that could control the expansion of Pakistan's nuclear work.
The report also stated that through the memo, Haqqani wanted to convince the US over the formation of a new security team and that he wanted to head the team himself.