Govt opposes memo commission’s proposal to travel abroad to record statement

As the central character of memogate saga, Manoor Ijaz, despite repeated security assurances clearly refused to come to Pakistan, the government Thursday strongly opposed the proposal of the judicial commission to visit abroad to record his statement.

Attorney General Maulvi Anwar ul Haq said the judicial commission should not travel abroad to record the statement of an unreliable person.

The commission, constituted by the Supreme Court to probe into the secret memogate scandal, held its proceedings in Islamabad High Court (IHC). Chief Justice Balochistan High Court Justice Qazi Faez Isa is heading of three-member commission.

As per the expectations, Pakistani origin US business tycoon Mansoor Ijaz failed to appear before the panel by February 9, deadline given by the commission to record his statement and provide other evidences of the inglorious memo.

Opposing the idea of recording Ijaz’s statement abroad, the attorney general said General (Retd) James Jones and then Admiral Mike Mullen had also refused to appear before the Commission.

Earlier, the commission expressed concerns over the cooperation of foreign office, issuing directives to the attorney general to write a fresh letter to Research in Motion (RIM) for releasing Blackberry data of communication between Mansoor Ijaz and former ambassador to US Hussain Haqqani.

The commission expressed dissatisfaction over the fact that the Foreign Office accepted the refusal of the Canadian High Commission.

Justice Isa said, “Why don’t you act like a sovereign country. Do the same to the Canadians and see their response. The Blackberry Company is operating in Pakistan and they also have some obligations here for smooth functioning.”

The commission also ordered for writing a letter to the Canadian government seeking its assistance in getting the record.

Whereat, the AG informed the commission about the vulnerability of the Canadian government over the matter. However, he would obey the orders. The judicial panel also directed Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir to report the commission about any existing agreement between Pakistan and Canada for exchange of dossier.

Earlier, Justice Faez Isa summoning the foreign secretary on 30 minutes’ notice said that contempt notice would be issued if he failed to turn up within the given deadline. He said that Foreign Office was creating hurdles in implementing commission’s rulings.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Feb 10 2012. Filed under National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.