Pak SC grants six more weeks to memo commission for procedure completion

Islamabad, Mar 30 (ANI): The Pakistan Supreme Court has granted another six weeks to the memo commission for completing its proceeding in memo scandal case.

The court did not take up former Pakistan ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani's application for recording statement abroad like Pakistan-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, the key man in the memo scandal, and has also maintained its January 20 order that Haqqani would appear before the commission on a four-day notice, the Daily Times reports.

On January 30, Haqqani had given an undertaking before the Supreme Court that he would return to Pakistan on a four-day notice and would record his statement before the commission. The court said Chaudhry Akhtar Ali, advocate-on-record (AOR), and Asma Jahangir, counsel for Haqqani, were free to file such an application and a decision would be made after receiving it.

A 10-member special bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, heard the memo commission's plea for extension in time to finalise the case proceedings. The commission, comprising chief justices of Balochistan, Islamabad and Sindh high courts, has prayed to the apex court to extend the time. The attorney general also stated that he had no objection if another six weeks were granted to the commission to complete its task.

Regarding Haqqani's letter to the chief justice of Pakistan, the court noted that the manner in which such letters were directly addressed to the chief justice or the judges had already been discouraged, when such a letter was sent by Mansoor Ijaz.

The hearing was adjourned for an indefinite period. (ANI)