'Where's Husain Haqqani': CJP summons Memogate case file

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar summoned details of the Memogate case on Monday while hearing a case related to the right to vote for overseas Pakistanis.

The Memogate scandal erupted in 2011 when Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz claimed to have received an 'anti-army' memo from Pakistan's ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani for the then-US joint chiefs chairman Admiral Mike Mullen. 

The scandal, taken to the Supreme Court by then opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, led to Haqqani's resignation. 

During today's hearing, the chief justice remarked that the purpose of the proceedings is to give the right of vote to overseas Pakistanis.

He added that there are some Pakistanis who promised the court to show up but did not return.

Inquiring into the whereabouts of Haqqani, the chief justice asked if he will also be given a right to cast a vote.

"Why don’t we issue him a notice and summon him to face the Memogate case," the chief justice remarked. He then directed the registrar office to take out the Memogate case file and submit it in court. 

During the hearing, the court was pleased to hear from the NADRA chairman that a software allowing overseas voting will be ready by April. The chief justice observed that the overseas Pakistanis are willing to fund the programme. 

The hearing was then adjourned for a month when a progress report on the software’s development will be submitted by NADRA. 

Haqqani and the Memogate case 

In September last year, Haqqani told Geo News "Memogate was just media noise, which is why the case has never been decided by the Supreme Court. That it disrupted lives without a conclusion is a sad reflection on how things work in Pakistan. I have moved on".

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, in March 2017, called for a parliamentary commission to investigate Haqqani's claims in a Washington Post op-ed that his 'close ties' with the US enabled the bin Laden raid. 

Asif also stated that the former envoy had left Pakistan on the promise that he would return, but never did.

Following the article's publication and subsequent media uproar, the PPP also accused Haqqani of "treason and maligning the country’s armed forces at the behest of anti-Pakistan elements”. 

Most recently, on January 21, media reports stated that three FIRs were registered against Haqqani in two police stations of Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for delivering hate speeches and writing against the armed forces and sovereignty of Pakistan.

Memogate was just media noise: Hussain Haqqani

I did nothing wrong, never went into hiding, and have always expressed my opinions publicly, says former envoy

The memo sent by Haqqani allegedly mentioned a possible army coup in Pakistan following the US raid in Abbottabad to kill Osama bin Laden. 

It sought assistance from the US for the then-Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government for 'reigning in the military and intelligence agencies'. 

A judicial commission tasked to probe the case had concluded that the memo was authentic and authored by the former envoy.

The commission said the purpose of the memo was to convince American officials that Pakistan's civilian government was 'pro-US'.