Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday issued arrest warrants for former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani.

A three-member Supreme Court bench, comprising Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, was hearing a suo motu case against the former envoy.

Additional Attorney General Rana Waqar apprised the court that Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had started the process to arrest Haqqani. He said the agency had written to the Interpol to issue red warrants against Haqqani.

He said he had talked to officials concerned of the ministries of foreign affairs and interior as well as FIA head over the matter.

He said a committee had been constituted to take up the issue with the authorities concerned in US. He said according to the standard operating procedure (SOP), FIA was required to obtain an arrest warrant issued by the court. The court then issued the warrant for the arrest of Haqqani.

The chief justice recalled that before leaving for US, Haqqani had submitted an undertaking in the court that he would appear before the apex court when he would be summoned, but he did not come back despite various summons.

He said the matter of Memogate, which involved the country’s dignity, would not be compromised.

Earlier on Feb 8, the Supreme Court had directed the interior and foreign secretaries as well as FIA director general to furnish a report on the return of former envoy to the US Husain Haqqani within a week.

Barrister Zafarullah Khan, one of the petitioners in the case, had told the court that Haqqani had reportedly said that he would not return to the country on the orders of the apex court, besides he was frequently abusing Pakistan and courts in his media interviews.

Published in Daily Times, February 16^th 2018.