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Summary CJP has said if memo was just a piece of paper, why it was sent to the parliamentary body.
During the hearing of the memo case, the Attorney General of Pakistan said the memo was just a piece of paper and the Supreme Court should not conduct hearing, as parliamentary body was probing it.The CJP asked the AG as to what happened to the probe into Benazir Bhutto murder case after the lapse of four years.The CJP further said no one can bar the apex court from hearing any case.The AG said no one was barring the court, to which Justice Jawad S Khwaja responded by saying let the court look into the matter. If the memo is fake, the government will stand vindicated, he added. The court said Mansoor Ijaz has sent 32 pictures of his BlackBerry.Both the accused and the one who wrote the memo want the probe to be conducted, added the court. Justice Ijaz Afzal said the endangered sovereignty could endanger the country itself.Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq reiterated that parliaments national security committee should investigate and not the court, which has been asked by the opposition and intelligence chief to order an independent inquiry.The memo was allegedly an attempt by a close aide of President Asif Ali Zardari to enlist American help to head off a feared military coup in May in exchange for overhauling the countrys powerful security leadership.The scandal has fuelled rampant speculation that Zardaris days are numbered and a decision from the Supreme Court to investigate would build pressure on the president, with most observers expecting early elections sometime in 2012.Let the parliamentary committee complete its task. Within the parameters of (law), the petitions cannot be maintained, Haq, who is the top government legal adviser, told the court.He insisted that the memo was a worthless piece of paper but it does need to be probed.Tensions between the army and government soared this month over the memo, allegedly delivered to then US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, in May and first made public by an American-Pakistani businessman in October.Both sides have since made efforts to quell the tensions, but it remains unclear how the military or the court will respond to Haqs latest remarks.Pakistans army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, last week denied rumours that the military is plotting to overthrow the government.On Monday, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani denied that he wanted to sack Kayani or ISI chief lieutenant general Ahmad Shuja Pasha.Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is heading a nine-judge panel deliberating on whether to investigate what has been nicknamed memogate by appointing an inquiry commission.There is a national consensus that there should be no compromise on sovereignty and security of Pakistan, the CJ said. He then adjourned the hearing until Wednesday.The memo is controversial because it offers to overhaul Pakistans security leadership in exchange for American assistance, as public relations plummeted after the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan on May 2.Businessman Mansoor Ijaz claimed that Zardari feared the military might overthrow his government and accused Husain Haqqani, ambassador to Washington, of crafting the memo with the presidents support.ISI chief Gen Pasha said last week that Ijaz had enough evidence to back up his allegations and called for a forensic examination of the memo.Haqqani denies any involvement, but was forced to resign last month and the court has put restrictions on him leaving Pakistan.His lawyer Asma Jahangir said her clients fundamental rights have been taken away over court restrictions on travelling abroad and described Ijaz as a dubious man and said it was not up to the ISI to investigate.
