Everyone needs to come clean
Matters of state are never as simple and straightforward as one would like them to be. One statement may seem contradictory to another only to corroborate later to the same. This happens due to multidimensional nature of events and how one interprets them. But on rare occasions these contradictions form into clashes that seem irresolvable. Nevertheless, getting to the bottom of things is more important than anything else. And that seems to be what the Memogate commission is doing right now.
The commission inquiring into the so-called Memogate has asked Husain Haqqani to appear before it, along with his mobile phones and their bills, threatening him that his family may be interrogated if he fails to do so. What the commission has done is praiseworthy – it has plugged in all the holes that could be used by the former ambassador to skirt away from appearing before the commission – but it comes with some caveats. In the quest for finding out the truth, the commission has taken a step that may raise some eyebrows. Putting the accused’s family in the docks to witness might not sit well with human rights activists. Although new evidence requires further investigation to find out the real culprit that has put the institutions in the country on a path of confrontation, the veracity of these allegations should also be duly ensured.
What really matters is the fact that Mansoor Ijaz’s evidence has not yet been challenged or countered by the counsel of Husain Haqqani. There certainly is more than meets the eye. Whether the loss of Haqqani’s mobile phones is an accident or a deliberate act, it proved to be a roadblock in the inquiry. Even if his PIN is retrieved, through one way or another, the integrity of data on his phones cannot be assured, making this whole exercise a lot tougher to result into a meaningful report. On a relevant note, it is not just the accused who needs to come clean, the accuser shares this responsibility too, no deviance from which the court must ensure.
A tangible result is a must if the state wants to put a check on such ‘gates’ in the future, and it is for this very reason the inquiry has to be thorough and impartial.