Islamabad: The Pakistani judicial commission investigating the memo scandal on Monday directed the government to issue a visa to Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz so that he could come to the country and appear before the panel.
The three-judge commission formed by the Supreme Court to probe the alleged memo directed authorities to provide a visa to Ijaz as soon as his application is receieved, and the required security when he arrives in Pakistan.
It also directed authorities to increase security for Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s former envoy to the US who resigned after the memo was made public by Ijaz.
The commission headed by Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Eesa issued the directives during a meeting held at the Islamabad High Court. Eesa said every institution is answerable to the commission.
Eesa directed Attorney General Anwar-ul-Haq to provide security to Ijaz when he arrives in Pakistan.
Haqqani’s counsel Zahid Bokhari contended that Ijaz, who had claimed that he delivered the controversial memo to a former US miliatry chief at the behest of Haqqani, was making excuses to avoid coming to Pakistan.
Responding to this, the commission said if Ijaz was not issued a visa and an FIR is lodged against him, the panel may go abroad to record his statement.
The commission asked whether any case had been registered against Ijaz anywhere in Pakistan but the Attorney General said he had no information in this regard.
It is the right of every citizen to register a case and the government cannot restrict such activities, the Attorney General said.
The commission then directed him to ascertain from the Secretary Interior whether any FIR had been filed against Ijaz.
PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and Haqqani appeared before the commission on Monday. The army’s Judge Advocate General’s department informed the panel that the army chief could not appear as he was on an official visit to China. Sharif submitted a written statement to the commission through his lawyer.
Akram Sheikh, the counsel for Ijaz, claimed Canadian firm Research In Motion had been forbidden by Haqqani to provide information on Blackberry communications to the commission. Reacting to the allegation, Haqqani said, “We did not issue any notice to the company”.
The Attorney General said a letter was written to Research In Motion on January 1 though no reply had been received so far. Haqqani’s counsel told the commission that Ijaz should prove that the BlackBerry communications related to the alleged memo.
The alleged memo had sought US help to stave off a feared military takeover in Pakistan after Osama bin Laden was killed in a raid by American special forces in May last year.
The Pakistan government has said it was not linked in any way to drafting or delivering the memo to the former US military chief. (PTI)