ISLAMABAD - There was a sharp divide in the members of Parliamentary Committee on National Security on the committee’s deliberations on memo controversy and those who opposed it were of the view that as the Supreme Court of Pakistan had already taken up the issue so there was no need for the committee to take up this issue.
The sources in the committee informed that these members had openly expressed their views in the committee and said that as the matter relating to memo controversy required criminal investigations, so the Supreme Court was the right forum for it and the court could direct the government for the same and could even itself constitute a commission to dig out the facts.
Some members of the committee not belonging to ruling coalition even suspect that the government may use the committee for political ends and even use it as a shield against the Supreme Court’s verdict and could pitch both the constitutional institutions against each other.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) members of the committee - Senator Ishaq Dar and Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan Abbassi - had sought the permission of the committee Chairman Senator Mian Raza Rabbani to abstain from the proceedings of the committee on memo issue because their party had taken the matter to Supreme Court of Pakistan. But Mian Raza Rabbani had turned down their plea and said that the Supreme Court and the Parliamentary Committee on National Security would continue their job side by side.
However, some members of the committee who did not want to disclose their identity said that they suspect that the government would use the committee to keep the apex court under pressure on the subject and said that the committee should not deal with the matter as it would lead the things to a deadlock or clash like situation between the institutions.
These members further said that they had raised the issue in the committee but the Chairman of the committee Senator Mian Raza Rabbani was of different viewpoint as he saw nothing wrong with the working of the two (Supreme Court and committee) on the same subject, as according to him both have their separate ambit of working.
These members said that they would not let the government politicise the working of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security and would prefer to abstain or boycott the committee proceedings if they found government members using the forum for their political ends.
It is pertinent to mention here that initially the PML-N member of the committee Senator Ishaq Dar had written a letter to the chairman of the committee to take up the issue, when the memo controversy surfaced and government had taken resignation from Pakistani Ambassador to US Hussain Haqqani.
Later when the committee had taken up the matter for examination the PML-N leadership went to the apex court to have impartial probe into the matter, as according to Mian Nawaz Sharif the matter pertains to the national security and very serious allegations were leveled against the top government functionaries.