4:00 AM
ISLAMABAD: Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) has taken notice of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s interview to a Chinese newspaper in which he said that the army chief and DG ISI gave statements to the Supreme Court without the government’s approval.
A statement released on the ISPR website on Wednesday said that the allegations leveled against Chief of Army Staff General (COAS) Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and Director General Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Ahmed Shuja Pasha were very serious and had “very serious ramifications with potentially grievous consequences for the country”.
It stated that Gilani gave the interview to The People’s Daily Online at the time when Kayani was also on an official visit to China.
“The Honourable Prime Minister inter alia termed the responses given by COAS and DG ISI in the alleged Memo Case to the Honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan as unconstitutional and illegal.” However, it added, that Gilani’s statement did not take into account the fact that the COAS and the DG ISI were cited as respondents in the Memogate scandal by the Supreme Court and were served notices directly.
It also highlighted that in an earlier meeting between the prime minister and Kayani, the PM had publicly stated that the replies submitted by the respondents were “in response to the notice of the Court through proper channel and in accordance with the rules of business” and no objection was raised at that time.
The statement said: “COAS and DG ISI in their response to the Honourable Supreme Court were obliged to state facts as known to them, on the Memo Issue. The issue of jurisdiction and maintainability of the Petitions was between the Honourable Supreme Court and the Federation.”
Posted in: NATIONAL
