Information Blog

Pakistan has admitted that it does not have any operational control over the army or the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

In a recent submission to the Supreme Court in the memogate case, the Defence Ministry said that it was not in a position to give reply on behalf of either security agency. According to sources, the ministry went on to say that this was because the government oversaw administrative matters in both institutions.

The reply comes after the Supreme Court had earlier ordered all respondents to file affidavits in the case ‘to clear the cobwebs’ over the scandal. It has been interpreted as a sign of a rift between the government and the military over the scandal.

ISI chief Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha also submitted his reply to the court in which he reiterated his earlier stance.

Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani stated in his reply that the memorandum definitely existed.

President Asif Ali Zardari and former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani are yet to file affidavits in the case.

“I am not aware of the status. However, it is a legal and constitutional issue which will appropriately be addressed in accordance with the law and the Constitution,” said Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar in a report published by ‘The Dawn’.

Pakistan Muslim League-N Chief Nawaz Sharif called on Zardari to file a reply in the case.

“Mr Zardari now has an ample and clear opportunity through this petition to clear the name of the allegation internationally levelled against him, but reluctance to take benefit of this opportunity is not understandable,” Sharif’s rejoinder said.

ISLAMABAD:

It’s a bold move, but the parliamentary committee on national security will soon find out if it has acted “too big for its boots”.

The committee decided on Wednesday to summon Pakistan’s military and spy chiefs to explain their stance on the Memogate, in an apparent bid to dispel the impression that the all-party body was too weak to probe such a high-profile criminal case.

Chaired by Senator Raza Rabbani, the panel also decided to call Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US, who is at the heart of the bitter controversy which has engulfed national politics over the past two months.

A couple of the meeting’s participants told The Express Tribune that the panel was unanimous in its view that any individual and institution, irrespective of their power or position, could be summoned.

It was not immediately decided when Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Director General Inter-Services Intelligence Ahmed Shuja Pasha should appear before the committee.

The all-party and bicameral panel was assigned by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to investigate the memo allegedly sent to then-top US military commander by Haqqani to seek help against a possible military coup in Pakistan in May.

Haqqani denied any role in sending the request through Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, whose article in the Financial Times in October triggered the controversy.

Rabbani told the media that the attorney general had been asked to send the panel all documentation submitted to the Supreme Court by military authorities and Haqqani.

The Supreme Court is holding a parallel investigation into the scandal on several petitions, one of them filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif.

There had been criticism from some quarters that the parliamentary committee did not have technical expertise to probe a case involving criminal investigations. But Rabbani said the panel would go ahead with its investigations, irrespective of the Supreme Court’s decision.

“Nothing can stop us…we will complete our task, it doesn’t matter who else is doing the same,” he said.

PML-N boycott rejected

According to Rabbani, members from the PML-N offered to abstain from the committee because the party was a petitioner in the Supreme Court. The panel’s chairman, however, said the committee unanimously turned down the offer from Senator Ishaq Dar and MNA Sardar Mehtab Abbasi.

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said on Tuesday that his party might boycott the committee because it was irrelevant.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 22nd, 2011.

The rumour is rife in journalistic circles that the ‘spiritual son of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’ had left his resignation behind before heading to Dubai, in official words, for having routine medical checkups.

His spokesman, one more of his Babars, made the fog settle on ground with an announcement that worked like a magic spell, at least for news makers like myself. Here it goes: The President (read The Supreme Commander of Armed Forces) would embark on his journey back home on the word of his medical experts.

The memo turned into a mammoth Tsunami for the government on Thursday (Dec 15) which was the deadline set by the Supreme Court to submit replies in the case. This must be a deja vu moment for you just the way it is for me.  Wasn’t it Imran Khan who had promised our nation a Tsunami? Perhaps this is exactly what he had meant when he made that promise, which now seems nothing less than a prophecy.

The deadline – a perfect word in the present context – turned the government’s ugliest nightmare true when the mother and father of all replies made crash landing at the country’s apex court.

Army Chief describes the memo as a reality. DG ISI says he was satisfied with ‘the corroborative material’ produced by the MemoLeak (Mansoor Ijaz).

The Federal government, seeing the oncoming winter Tsunami with toppling force, pleaded before the Supreme Court in its reply to dismiss the petition on grounds that the case in question was not fit for hearing in the light of Article 184 of the Constitution.

DG ISI, who allegedly sought Arab world’s assistance for a coup, should resign, said the desperate ANP leader Bushra Gohar. Opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar endorsed the demand.

Ironic as it may seem, the memogate case that took a nasty turn for the existing democracy on Thursday, was filed by our present day pro-democracy leader Nawaz Sharif. Now,  would you call this a Sharif move?

Has Pakistan’s administrative set up come a full circle? Perhaps the only change that we see this time is face!

Asif Ali Zardari on late Wednesday returned to Islamabad, a city that he left abruptly Dec 6 to fly to Dubai triggering speculations of a coup.   Zardari had been admitted at a Dubai hospital for what officials described as a heart ailment. Reports on his health ranged from

the president suffering a heart attack to his suffering a stroke that caused bleeding in his brain and facial paralysis.

The president arrived back in the country Sunday night at the port city of Karachi, putting to rest coup rumours.

President’s spokesperson Farhatullah Babar said that Zardari reached Islamabad from Karachi Wednesday night, reported Associated Press of Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan’s ally China said on Monday it was “deeply shocked” by a cross-border attack by NATO forces in Afghanistan that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at the weekend, with Islamabad denying reports the NATO troops had first come under fire. read more….