International police, Interpol, has refused to act against former Pakistan Ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, as demanded by the Chief Justice Saqib Nisar.
Hearing of the Memogate case was held in camera on Monday, December 31 given the sensitivity of the case. In January 2018, the Chief Justice had reopened the Memogate case after a hiatus of five years, saying in open court “Where is Husain Haqqani?” and issuing warrants for his appearance before the apex court.
Interpol responded to those warrants by pointing out that there was no criminal charge pending against Haqqani and international law did not have any provision for action against an individual refusing to appear before a court in a political case.
Subsequently, several FIRs were registered against Haqqani on grounds of treason and the matter was referred to Interpol once again.
Interpol informed the Pakistani authorities that treason was not an extraditable offense and is considered a political charge under international law.
The Deputy Attorney General at the time said that the way to get Haqqani back was to charge him with some crime. As a result, FIA was directed to register a case against Haqqani for embezzlement and misappropriation. The Chief Justice also appointed Ahmer Bilal Soofi, an expert in international law, as Amicus Curiae to help the court figure out how to bring Haqqani back.
At Soofi’s suggestion the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and FIA were activated to issue new warrants against Haqqani that related only to the embezzlement and misappropriation charges. NAB later withdrew from the process, leaving FIA to deal with the matter.
After Interpol’s latest refusal, the Chief Justice accepted Soofi’s suggestion to hear the matter in chambers rather than in open court.
When contacted in Washington DC, Husain Haqqani said that that false charges will not hold up outside of Pakistan.
“This entire matter has only been for the benefit of Pakistani media from day one and is part of the effort to paint dissidents as traitors,” he added.
Published in Daily Times, January 2nd 2019
