Memogate Scandal: The government versus Mansoor Ijaz

Memogate Scandal: The government versus Mansoor Ijaz

The Memogate scandal is one of the hottest topics in Pakistan these days and despite what the government says, all the fuss surrounding the issue is completely justified. The biggest proof of the significance that the whole issue holds is the way the government
is going about the whole thing, threatening to take Mansoor Ijaz, a Pakistani American businessman and a chief character in the entire Memogate scandal, into custody the moment he sets foot on the Pakistani soil and try him for treason under Article 6.

If the government is being honest about the memo being nothing more than a piece of paper that has no existence, then why is it putting in so much effort to prevent Ijaz from appearing before the judicial commission that has been set up by the Supreme Court.

According to the recent statements by Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Ijaz will be apprehended when he arrives in Pakistan and his name will be added to the Exit Control List (ECL) through the approval of Parliamentary Committee of National Security. The
only purpose of giving such a statement at a time when the Pakistani American businessman is due to record his statement before the judicial commission is to keep him away from the commission.

With the sort of statements that are coming from the government, one is forced to believe that they have a lot of lose in case Ijaz manages to record his statement and submit the evidence that he claims will not only help the commission to reach a conclusive
verdict, but also put the likes of Malik on trial.

The respectable Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani has rightly pointed out that Ijaz is not a very important personality and therefore it is absurd to spend millions of rupees on his security. However, he further added that it is the job of the interior
ministry to provide security to the Pakistani American business, the same ministry that is headed by Malik who is going around announcing dire consequences for Ijaz if he comes to Pakistan.

Gillani also raised a concern regarding the image that the nation is portraying of itself in front of the world by reacting so strongly to a mere piece of paper. However, he failed to explain why the government had forced the former Ambassador Hussain Haqqani
to serve his resignation and later set up a parliamentary commission to probe into the matter. If it was just a piece of paper, then why is the government so worried over the issue being taken to Supreme Court and a judicial inquiry into the matter? Why is
Haqqani making absurd claims such as “I left my blackberry at home in America”?

There is something definitely fishy in the whole matter and the government seems to be making full effort to bury the issue. If Ijaz comes to Pakistan and records his statement, along with providing the evidence, then it will only be a matter of time before
the truth comes out. The current attitude of the government is making it evident that they already know what a successful inquiry into the matter by the judicial commission is going to reveal.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=10170

Posted by Muhammad Qasim Hassan on Jan 23 2012. Filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry