Islamabad: In a bid to corner the Pakistani government over the “memogate” controversy, the main opposition party PML-N on Wednesday filed a constitutional petition in the Supreme Court seeking a probe into the entire incident.
The petition filed by PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif’s lawyer has named the President, the federal government, the army and ISI chiefs, and the Foreign Secretary as parties to the case.
The petition also named former envoy to the US Husain Haqqani and Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, who made the memo public, as parties to the case. It referred to Ijaz’s revelations about the memo and asked the court to direct President Asif Ali Zardari and Haqqani to explain why they had initially denied his claims.
The apex court should also play its role to safeguard national interests, the petition contended.
The controversy has already claimed the scalp of Haqqani, who was forced out of office following his suspected involvement in a memo handed over to the US, seeking support for Zardari to avert a military coup after the American raid in which Osama bin Laden was killed on May 2. Earlier, addressing a rally in Faisalabad on Sunday, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif had warned he would approach the Supreme Court if the government did not order an inquiry into the “memogate” controversy within two days.
Senior PML-N leader Khwaja Asif told the media outside the apex court today that the army had been targeted in the secret memo and defence institutions had thus been made party to the petition. Moreover, media reports had said the ISI chief had been given some evidence by Mansoor Ijaz and it was important to bring this material to light, he said.
Dar further demanded that the ISI chief and the Foreign Secretary should be called to appear before the panel to give their views on the issue. (PTI)