The judicial commission investigating the controversial memo on Friday directed the officials of Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Interior to appear before the commission on April 12 for consultation on three options to bring former Ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani back. The commission directed Attorney General for Pakistan Maulvi Anwal-ul-Haq to complete homework on three options before the next hearing of the commission.
The options are: an arrest warrant for him, registration of a criminal case against him and seizure of his assets and initiation of contempt proceedings against him. Ex DG ISI Ahmed Shuja Pasha's counsel S M Zafar suggested that Haqqani could be summoned through the Interior Ministry as he had failed twice to comply with the orders of the commission. He also argued that Pakistan-US relations were under tremendous strains and it was not a viable option to send interrogators to former US Admiral Mike Mullen and former US Advisor to National Security James Jones. However, the commission could send them a final notification, he added.
The commission expressed its displeasure over the response of AGP in relation to his stance in the case of Haqqani. The commission inquired from the AGP about the measures the government would possibly take to force him to come to Pakistan as it had provided a surety in relation to Haqqani's production on a four-day notice in the undertaking submitted by Haqqani to the apex court. The AGP refused to take any position in bringing Haqqani back. "It was a complete insult of the authority of Government of Pakistan in failing to call back a former ambassador," Justice Esa remarked.
It was for the third time that the commission ordered Haqqani to appear in person before the commission with his Blackberry sets. The commission also ordered production record of letters written to RIM to obtain relevant records of exchange of BBMs messages between the two in the aftermath of May 2 event. Zahid Bukhari, the counsel for Haqqani repeated his request to the commission. He urged the commission to allow his client to record his statement via a video link from the UK. The commission, however, again declined the request.
The commission further issued directives to the Foreign Office to present the details of expenditure of multi-million special funds which Haqqani in his capacity of Ambassador utilised during April-December 2011. Mansoor Ijaz's lawyer Akram Sheikh urged the commission to seek details of the secret funds to find out how those funds were utilised by Haqqani.
The Director General of Foreign Ministry for American Desk, Sohail Khan, informed the commission that Haqqani went to London from Washington in 2011 without a prior permission. He further claimed that Haqqani did not mention the name of Mansoor Ijaz in the exchange of daily messages to the foreign ministry. He handed over the record of official documentation with the US of the period from January 2011 till Haqqani's resignation.
Haqqani's counsel said the commission's order seeking Haqqani's consent to waive privacy rights for accessing BlackBerry data had been sent to him. He argued that Haqqani never disobeyed the orders of the commission in the past. Bukhari said that Haqqani had cited heart problem as the reason behind his absence.
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