The Supreme Court of Pakistan — which for the past four years has been the beacon of hope in a country where other institutions appeared to be failing — was on Tuesday at the receiving end with allegations being levelled against it thick and fast as property tycoon Malik Riaz did not spare even Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in his outburst.
Addressing a press conference after submitting his statement in the Court in the case where he is alleged to have paid the Chief Justice's son Arsalaan Iftikhar to influence the judicial process, Mr. Riaz said Mr. Justice Chaudhry had been aware of the matter much before he took suo motu notice of it last week.
While the statement details the Rs. 342,501,254 allegedly paid to Dr. Arsalaan, he did not level any charges against the Chief Justice. Within an hour of the adjournment of proceedings, he posed three questions before the media that sought to challenge Mr. Justice Chaudhry's claim of being unaware about his son's business deals.
Mr. Riaz's charge that he had met the Chief Justice more than once in the dead of the night along with the sitting Registrar of the Supreme Court and Dr. Arsalaan was quickly countered. The Registrar said those meetings took place when the superior judiciary including Mr. Justice Chaudhry had been removed during the Musharraf regime.
While the Arsalaan case hogged the nation's attention — with there being indications galore that it could result in the opening of a can of worms as rumours are thickening as they spread about those including senior journalists who have benefited from proximity to Mr. Riaz — the Supreme Court's judgment in the memogate case drew it more brickbats.
Based on the Memogate Commission enquiry, the Court concluded that the former Pakistan Ambassador to the U.S., Husain Haqqani, had been the “architect'' of the memo submitted to Washington by Pakistan-American Mansoor Ijaz seeking American intervention in pre-empting a military ouster of the Zardari dispensation.
Referring to the offer made to the Americans in return for their intervention — which included eliminating the ‘S' wing of the ISI and pigeon-holing forces working against the U.S. — the Court said the memo “created fissures in the body politic and were acts of disloyalty to Pakistan''.
The timing of the judgment came into question on the social media where Pakistanis are particularly active. Many saw in this judgment a bid by the Court to divert some of the scrutiny coming its way since the Arsalaan case opened last Wednesday.
Mr. Haqqani tweeted along these lines stating that the “Memo Commission report is being used to distract attention from other embarrassing issues. Its claims are political, not legal.'' Determined to challenge this order, he added in another tweet: “Patriotism cannot be judged by those who bend over backwards 4 a foreign accuser [Mr. Ijaz] but dont even hear Pakistani citizen's version.''
Meanwhile, in his reaction to the order, Mr. Ijaz emailed: “The people of Pakistan should be proud of their justices for seeking truth, no matter where it leads.''
