SC issues arrest warrants for ex-ambassador Hussain Haqqani

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has issued arrest warrants for former ambassador to the United States Hussain Haqqani in the Memogate scandal case today (Thursday).

During the hearing, Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Bashir Memon informed the apex court that a letter has been forwarded to the Interpol for red warrant against the accused.

Resuming the Memogate case hearing on January 29, the Chief Justice of Pakistan had remarked that the apex court will summon Husain Haqqani to face the charges against him. The CJP had summoned secretaries interior and foreign affairs and Director General Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to contemplate legal ways to bring self-exiled ex-ambassador to U.S. back to the country.

The Memogate controversy revolves around a memorandum allegedly drafted by Haqqani at the behest of former president Asif Ali Zardari and addressed to US Admiral Mike Mullen.

Haqqani was criticised by the Pakistani parliament for his column in The Washington Post in which he had written that he had helped US forces in eliminating al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden when the government and the Inter-Services Intelligence had been kept in the dark about the secret operation.

Charges brought against the ex-envoy include criminal conspiracy and waging a war against Pakistan.

On January 3, 2013, he left the country with the commitment to come back on a four-day notice and the court had allowed him to go abroad. He, however, did not return to the country from the United States.

Haqqani served as ambassador from 2008 to 2011 in US and was removed for his alleged role in the Memogate controversy. He has also served as ambassador to Sri Lanka from 1992 to 1993.