SC summons Memogate case file

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar summoned the details of the Memogate case on Monday while hearing a case related to the right to vote for the overseas Pakistanis.

The Memogate scandal erupted in 2011 when Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz claimed to have received an 'anti-army' memo from Pakistan's ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani for the then-US joint chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen. The scandal, taken to the Supreme Court by then opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, led to Haqqani's resignation.

During Monday's hearing, the chief justice remarked the purpose of the proceedings was to give the right of vote to the overseas Pakistanis. He added there are some Pakistanis who promised the court to show up but have not returned. Inquiring into the whereabouts of Haqqani, the chief justice asked if he will also be given a right to cast vote. "Why don’t we issue him a notice and summon him to face the Memogate case," the chief justice remarked. He then directed the registrar's office to take out the Memogate case file and submit it in the court.

The CJP, while heading a three-member bench, heard petitions filed by members of the civil society, praying that the government should set up appropriate infrastructure to enable the overseas Pakistanis to cast their vote in the forthcoming general elections of the country. The court granted 10 weeks to Navid software so that the overseas Pakistanis could cast their votes in the upcoming general elections. During the course of hearing, Justice Umar Ata Bandyal, a member of the bench, observed that the overseas Pakistanis should be enabled to cast their votes as, he said, the hearts of the overseas Pakistanis beat for Pakistan.

Earlier, at the outset of thehearing, the chief justice inquired from the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) chairman when he was giving good news to the overseas Pakistanis about the right of vote in the upcoming elections. Nadra Chairman Usman Yousaf Mobin informed the court that they would conduct a mock exercise and the software would be ready in two months and that would be probably be in April. The CJP told Nadra that they could ask for help from the IT experts from abroad or within Pakistan. He said some overseas Pakistanis had phoned him and volunteered for help in developing the software and were ready to even give funds for preparing the system for their right to vote. The Nadra chairman said work on the software had started but there were issues of secrecy and that the programme should be user friendly. The secretary ECP said the government is ready to pay the cost of the software and the placing system so the overseas Pakistanis could cast votes in the election. The chef justice appreciated the work done both by the ECP and Nadra for developing the software that will enable the overseas Pakistanis to use their right to vote in the forthcoming general elections.

The chief justice asked Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MNA Arif Alvi where his party was when the Election Act was passed. He said the PTI was the claimant of a big chunk of overseas Pakistani votes; therefore, it should have made efforts for enacting a law in the parliament to seek their votes. Arif Alvi, however, said that in 2011 he had raised the issue of the right to vote for the overseas Pakistanis in the National Assembly sub-committee. It was decided that the voting right will be extended to the expatriates. The hearing was adjourned for a month when the progress report on the software’s development would be submitted by Nadra.