Memo Commission’s report
Mohammad Jamil
The Memo Commission, constituted by the Supreme Court in December 2011, under the Chairmanship of Chief Justice Balochistan High Court Justice, Qazi Faiz Isa, has submitted a report to the Supreme Court. It concluded that the memorandum was real and was authored by Ex-Ambassador Husain Haqqani. It stated that he had violated the Constitution just to prove that the civil government in Islamabad was (and still is) USA’s friend and that it can help Washington in its non-proliferation efforts.
It has also vindicated the army’s stand on the issue, and the credit goes to General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and former ISI Chief General Ahmed Shuja Pasha for having withstood internal and external pressures for a just cause. Further, it confirmed that the Ex-Ambassador has not been loyal to the state.
The nine-member larger bench to hear the memogate case has issued notices to the petitioners through their counsel as well as the Attorney General for the next hearing. The bench directed that copies of the report should be handed over to the petitioners as well as the media. The court has now ordered Haqqani to be present in the next hearing.
While commenting on the report, Haqqani said that the commission’s proceedings were one-sided, as it refused to hear him and will be challenged by his lawyer. But, in Pakistan, not many will believe him. Haqqani was, indeed, given a chance to appear before the court and clear his position, but he did not avail. Before leaving for the US, he had promised that he would appear before the court on a four-day notice, but he did not honour his commitment. He also did not cooperate during the hearing because he refused to give the pin codes of two blackberries saying that he has lost them. There is a perception that even if Haqqani could prove that he was not involved in the memo scandal, his role in the issuing of visas to CIA operatives and his book, titled Pakistan between Mosque and Military, in which he demonised Pakistan and its institutions, are enough to put him in the dock.
It has to be recalled that the memo had accused General Kayani of planning to bring down the government in the aftermath of the May 2 raid. It said: “The government will allow the US to propose names of officials to investigate Bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan, facilitate American attempts to target militants like al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri and Taliban Chief Mullah Omar, and allow the US greater oversight of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.” Also, by going through the last two pages of Haqqani’s book one can conclude that he authored the memo. It attempts to trace the origin of the relationship between Islamist groups and the military, thus disparaging Pakistan and its army.
Anyhow, people feel aghast and miffed over the May 2 incident and the attack on Salala that violated Pakistan’s sovereignty. They stood nonplussed, completely at a loss to comprehend the shenanigans of their rulers across the spectrum, and deeply worried at the nonchalant way their country is being dragged to a perilous precipice. While the US-led Nato aggression on the Salala checkposts left them with concerns about security, they have been agitating on the streets on a daily basis to ventilate their anger at this naked aggression. They contemptibly see the leaders’ divisive politics and their power games in a full-blooded play. To cope with the storms gathering outside our borders against us, the nation needs a measure of internal unity and cohesion.
