Summon Zardari, Kayani, Pasha: Sharif to Pak SC

Islamabad: Former Pakistan Premier Nawaz Sharif on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to summon President Asif Ali Zardari, army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and ISI head Ahmed Shuja Pasha to get to the bottom of the controversy over a 'treacherous' secret memo sent to the US military.

Sharif made the request when he personally appeared before a nine-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, which is hearing nine petitions related to the 'Memogate' scandal.

The PML-N leader, wearing a black suit and dark tie, urged the apex court to speedily probe the matter as it had serious implications for the country's national security.

The secret memorandum, made public by Pakistani-American business Mansoor Ijaz, was purportedly sent to the US military by the civilian leadership here and sought its help in preventing a possible army takeover in Pakistan in the wake of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May.

The memo also committed the Pakistan government to wide-ranging changes in its national security set-up, including the removal of military officials believed to have links to militants.

Sharif's petition has asked the apex court to summon President Zardari, former envoy to the US Husain Haqqani, army chief Gen Kayani, ISI head Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha and Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir to appear before it to explain "the detestable, the despicable and the treacherous memorandum".

Sharif told the bench that he had not come to the apex court to level allegations at persons like Zardari but the 'Memogate' controversy involved matters of national security.

An agency should be tasked to carry out a fair and impartial probe into the matter, he said.

Noting that the ISI chief had met Ijaz to get details of the matter, Sharif said the persons named in his petition should be called to court and questioned.

Chief Justice Chaudhry observed that the case had criminal and civil aspects.

Referring to the Watergate scandal in the US, Chaudhry said the then President Richard Nixon had been asked by the US Supreme Court to hand over tapes and evidence related to the matter.

The government had asked Haqqani to resign as US Ambassador to facilitate a transparent investigation into the matter.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had also asked the Parliamentary Committee on National Security to probe the issue of the secret memo.