ISLAMABAD: During Monday's hearing of the memo case, the Supreme Court issued a notice to Interior Secretary Khwaja Siddiq Akbar and directed him to explain why Husain Haqqani and his counsel had not been informed over security measures to be taken for the former ambassador, DawnNews reported.
A nine-judge larger bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has been hearing into the controversy revolving around the memo scandal after the judicial commission constituted by the Supreme Court had held that Haqqani was the originator and architect of the memorandum sent to former US military chief Admiral Mike Mullen seeking US intervention to avert a possible overthrow of the civilian government by the military.
Haqqani was first named in the controversy by US businessman Mansoor Ijaz who had said that it was the former ambassador who had asked him (Ijaz) to deliver the memo to the then US military chief days after the May 2, 2011 US raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound.
During the hearing, the chief justice said every Pakistani citizen was obligated to follow the directives issued by the country's courts.
Haqqani's counsel, Asma Jahangir, said regardless of the court's directives, she could not bring her client back to Pakistan.
Responding to which, Chief Justice Iftikhar said the interior ministry had decided to provide security to the former ambassador.
Jahangir said despite her having written two letters to the interior ministry, she had not been contacted by the latter over her request.
The chief justice moreover remarked that the bench wanted to know why Haqqani had failed to appear before it.
Jahangir said her client was not a fugitive, adding that Haqqani did not want to take the risk of returning to Pakistan.
She moreover presented Haqqani's letter before the bench.
The bench then issued a notice to the interior secretary and directed him to explain why Haqqani and his counsel had not been informed over security measures to be taken for the former ambassador.
The hearing was subsequently adjourned to Feb 12.