SC accepts the petition on memogate

The ‘memogate’ saga refuses to die down. The Supreme Court on Thursday, 01 December, accepted the petition filed by the leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. The petition, among other things, had asked the court to place the former ambassador Hussain Haqqani’s
name in the Exit Control List (ECL).

A nine-judge bench of SC heard the petition today headed by chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. Reports coming here said that the leader of his faction of Muslim League, Nawaz Sharif claimed that memo was sent with the consent of the country’s top
political leadership.

However, Justice Jawad Khwaja, one of the members of the nine-member bench, said that the scandal is so far based on assumptions and determining the facts of the matter is obligatory.

The question was raised if the memo case could actually be under the jurisdiction of the court or that of the parliament.

Interestingly, it was Nawaz Sharif himself who presented the arguments in the court, saying that the  parliament was no more functional as it is only for passing resolutions.

Nawaz also said: “Pakistani American businessman Mansoor Ijaz has proved that the memo was written after the approval of a “higher authority in Pakistan”. “He said that scandals against the government are emerging one after the other and the people are ready
to come out on the roads in protest.

The president, according to Khwaja Asif who spoke to the journalists after the court proceeding, has been made a respondent in it. The court has formally asked the respondents in the memo gate scandal case to submit their evidence within 15 days in the apex
court.

Before the proceeding began, Nawaz Sharif was of the view that it was not the democracy that had failed. It was rather the government that has failed. He also said that the country’s sovereignty was under attack.

It remains to be seen now how the government responds to the claims and allegations Nawaz Sharif made in the court today. Since the respondents have the 15 days to submit any evidence, the government is expected to come up with strong defence.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=5256

Posted by Sajjad Hussain on Dec 1 2011. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry