The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Memogate
Pak panel says memo authentic
Says it was drafted on Haqqani’s directions
Afzal Khan in Islamabad

A Pakistani judicial commission has concluded that the country’s former Ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, was behind a mysterious memo that sought US help to stave off a feared coup and said he was “not loyal” to the country while serving as an envoy.

The Supreme Court-appointed commission’s findings were made public as a nine-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry began examining the panel’s report on Tuesday.

After the sealed report was presented to the bench, the Chief Justice asked Attorney General Irfan Qadir to read out its recommendations.

The report said Haqqani was “not loyal” to Pakistan while serving as the envoy in the US and had sought to undermine the security of the country’s nuclear assets, the armed forces, the Inter-Services Intelligence and the Constitution.

The panel further concluded that the alleged memo was authentic and was drafted on Haqqani’s instructions.

It concluded that Haqqani had sought US support through the memo and that he had wanted to head a new national security set-up.

The panel further said Haqqani had not accounted for $2 million spent from a secret fund of the Pakistani Embassy in Washington.

The apex court adjourned the matter for two weeks and directed Haqqani to appear in person at the next hearing. It also issued notices to all parties involved in the case.

The bench directed authorities to make the judicial commission’s report public.

Haqqani, currently in the US, was forced to quit after Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz made the memo public last year.

Haqqani has resisted commission’s notices to return to Pakistan. The court had allowed Haqqani to leave the country in March last after he pledged to return within on a four-day summon but the envoy has since resisted all directives on plea that he was unwell and also faces threat to his life.

(With inputs from PTI)

Report political, one sided: Haqqani

Husain Haqqani

Washington: Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, dismissed the memo commission’s report and launched a veiled attack on the judiciary claiming the findings were made public to divert the attention from “more embarrassing developments”.

Claiming that he had nothing to do with the memo, Haqqani said the commission might have come to a different conclusion if it had heard him out, which it did not.

“The entire proceeding reflected the political machination of ideological elements including the judiciary and had little to do with fact finding,” he added.

Thousands march against Putin

Moscow, June 12
Tens of thousands of protesters chanting “Russia will be free” rallied in Moscow today against President Vladimir Putin’s third term despite a police crackdown on their leaders a day earlier.

Flag-waving crowds made their way down leafy boulevards from Moscow’s central Pushkin Square as the march began with police putting the numbers at around 18,000.

City authorities have greatly played down previous protest figures. Opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov put the turnout at over 100,000, although AFP reporters on the ground said the figure was more in the tens of thousands.

Some shouted slogans such as “Russia without Putin” and held up whimsical protest symbols that have defined the light-hearted mood of historic protests which gripped Moscow this winter.

Almost all the main leaders of the social network driven protest were absent as they were being questioned by investigators, who hauled them in in an apparent bid to disrupt the march.

It was the first mass rally after the ruling party rammed through legislation raising penalties for offences by protesters to 300,000 rubles ($9,000), about the size of Russians’ average annual pay.

The sanctioned march, to be followed by a rally, came a day after masked officers carried out early morning raids on the protest leaders’ apartments as part of a criminal probe into violence at an earlier protest.

They searched the homes of the charismatic lawyer and anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny and television presenter Ksenia Sobchak, who played a major part in recent Occupy-style protests.

Others targeted included the moderate democracy campaigner Ilya Yashin, who was staying at Sobchak’s apartment, as well as Udaltsov.

Protesters today responded to the heavy-handed tactics with posters saying “No to 1937,” referring to Stalin-era persecutions, and “Stop the repression, you are making us into revolutionaries.” Navalny, Yashin and Sobchak were all released after being questioned at the Investigative Committee on Tuesday morning and were expected to join the rally later in the day. — AFP

Assange seeks extradition case reopening

London, June 12
In a last ditch effort to block his extradition, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has sought reopening of his extradition case, days after Britain’s Supreme Court ruled that the Swedish request had been “lawfully made”. Assange, 40, has been on conditional bail and is sought to be extradited to Sweden to face allegation of sex offences, which he denies.

His lawyers had argued before the Supreme Court that the European arrest warrant against him was “invalid”.

The implementation of the May 30 judgment had been deferred for two weeks, during which Assange’s lawyers were given time to seek reopening of the extradition case on the ground that the case had been decided on a point of law that was not argued by any side during the hearing.

The Supreme Court today confirmed that Assange’s lawyers had asked to reopen the case. The court can decide not to review the case and such appeals are considered rare. — PTI

Malik: I spent Rs 342m on Arsalan’s foreign tours
Makes veiled reference to his meetings with CJ
Afzal Khan in Islamabad

Real-estate tycoon and central character in the scam involving son of Chief Justice of Pakistan Arsalan Iftikhar, Malik Riaz on Tuesday claimed that he spent Rs 342.50 million on Arsalan’s three foreign tours ostensibly to secure relief on several cases pending against him in the Supreme Court.

Malik filed his statement before two-member bench of the court while contending that Arsalan had promised to him that he would get favourable rulings from his father in his cases. His counsel Zahid Bukhari, however, admitted in response to court’s queries that Malik did not get any relief despite spending huge amount on CJ’s son.

However, Malik later posed three explosive questions to the Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry without elaborating but apparently insinuating that the chief of the apex court had been meeting him in the darkness of night.

Carrying a copy of the Quran, Malik asked the CJ to tell the nation on oath about their meetings. He also referred to another meeting at the residence of one of his business partners and Arsalan’s friend, Ahmed Khalil, at which Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was also present. He further wanted the CJ to explain as to when did he knew about Arsalan’s tours.

During the hearing earlier in the afternoon, Malik told the court that he was blackmailed by Arsalan and sought justice from the court. At this the presiding judge of the two-member bench, Justice Jawwad Khawaja, remarked: “Mr Malik you have tried to buy justice.”

The court adjourned the hearing till Thursday to take decisions on pleas made by both sides.

Meanwhile, the Registrar of the Supreme Court said in statement that Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has never met real-estate tycoon Malik Riaz during his service.

25 dead in 5 days of Myanmar unrest

Sittwe, June 12
Around 25 persons have been killed and scores more wounded in five days of sectarian violence in western Myanmar, a senior government official said today.

“About 25 persons have been killed during the unrest,” the official told AFP, requesting anonymity, without providing details of how they died or whether they were Buddhists or Muslims. A further 41 have been wounded, he said.

Previously the official toll had stood at seven people dead since Friday. A cycle of apparent revenge attacks has gripped western Myanmar following the recent rape and murder of a local woman, allegedly by three Muslims.

In response an angry Buddhist mob beat 10 Muslims to death on June 3, fatalities not included in the figure given by the official. Hundreds of homes have since been torched, forcing both Buddhists and Muslims to seek safety, and rights organisations fear the death toll is higher than the official number. — AP/PTI