Pakistan’s government faced new pressure on Friday as the nation’s powerful generals broke with the political establishment’s stand to demand a probe into the Memogate scandal that threatens to implicate the President.
Acknowledging for the first time that the Memogate document existed, Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in a reply filed to the Supreme Court, which is hearing petitions related to the matter, described it as a conspiracy against his force as well as national security, and demanded a thorough probe.
Hours later, filing the government’s reply, Attorney General Anwar-ul-Haq, asked the apex court to dismiss petitions seeking an investigation into the scandal, saying it has already taken appropriate steps to have the issue probed by a Parliamentary committee.
But the Army chief and his intelligence head Lt General Shuja Ahmad Pasha, refused to withdraw their reply to the court.
According to media reports Kayani said the memo impacted “national security” and therefore needed to be fully examined about the facts and circumstances leading to the conception and issuance of the memo.
In his reply, filed separately, ISI chief Pasha confirmed meeting Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, who showed him proof of messages exchanged with Pakistan’s former envoy to the U.S. Hussain Haqqani about the memo.
Pasha asked the Supreme Court to summon whistleblower Ijaz to corroborate his version of the incident.
