Islamabad: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) may register a case against Pakistan’s former ambassador to the United States (US) Husain Haqqani, the Supreme Court was told today.
The authority said that ever since the Memogate issue came to light six years ago, no criminal charges had ever been filed against Haqqani.
The Supreme Court’s (SC) three-judge bench was also informed by Additional Attorney General Waqar Rana that although FIA had written to the Interpol Agency regarding the issuance of Haqqani’s red warrant, however, the agency was yet to issue the warrant. The AAG said that the agency had raised some questions over the question, and the FIA was now working on responses. Among other things, the FIA was asked by the Interpol to provide details of a criminal act committed by Haqqani.
Further, Waqar Rana requested the CJP to hear the matter in his chamber because there was a ‘lobby’ abroad that was supporting Haqqani. Barrister Zafarullah Khan, a petitioner in the case, said that there was no need to hear the case in chambers, as evidences had already been recorded. He also said that the report of the Memogate commission should be sent to the US, as Pakistan had a treaty with the US on the matter.
Accepting the plea, the CJP asked the AAG and the petitioner to appear in his chamber on Tuesday (next hearing), saying that he would not come under the influence of any lobby.
The CJP also noted that the Interpol was out of the court’s ambit, and asked the interior ministry to send relevant record sought by the international body.
The bench then directed the FIA to submit within the week all record containing the agency’s responses to the Interpol’s questionnaire, as well as other relevant documents in the Memogate case. The CJP said that if there was no progress in the matter by next Tuesday, he would summon the FIA director general to appear in the court. On February 15, the SC had issued arrest warrants for the former ambassador to the US. The apex court earlier directed Haqqani to appear in the Memogate case hearing but he failed to comply with court orders.
Legal experts point out that the memogate case has been registered as a constitutional petition, and not as a criminal petition. Meanwhile, cases were recently registered against Haqqani under Sections 120b (hatching a criminal conspiracy) and 121a (waging a war against Pakistan) of the Pakistan Penal Code. Neither of these charges fall under the purview of the Interpol whose charter forbids interventions or activities of a political, military, religious, or racial nature.
Interpol’s work focuses primarily on public safety and battling transnational crimes like child pornography, cyber crime, drug trafficking, genocide, human trafficking, illicit drug production, copyright infringement, illicit traffic in works of art, intellectual property infringement, money laundering, corruption, terrorism, war crimes, arms smuggling, and white-collar crime. The Memogate issue concerns a memorandum allegedly drafted by Haqqani at the behest of former president Asif Ali Zardari and addressed to US Admiral Mike Mullen.
In the memo, the US authorities were extended greater cooperation by the civilian administration in eliminating terrorist havens inside Pakistan and along the Pak-Afghan border in return for support for the civilians.
Charges brought against the former ambassador include criminal conspiracy and waging a war against Pakistan.
Haqqani left Pakistan on January 3, 2013, and has been living abroad since then.
Published in Daily Times, February 28th 2018.
