Memogate case: Panel asked to use ISI chief’s statement

Petitioner says Mansoor Ijaz’s right to record statement should be closed.

Barrister Zafarullah, of the Watan Party, sent his application to the secretary of the judicial commission probing the case, Raja Jawad Abbas.

The barrister also requested the commission, headed by Chief Justice of the Balochistan High Court Qazi Faez Isa, to close the right of record of evidence for Ijaz saying he was deliberately wasting the time of not just the commission but the whole nation.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Barrister Zafarullah said that Ijaz was summoned by the commission on January 9, 16 and 24 but he refused to appear despite assurances for his security from the federal government.

While Ijaz’s statement would count as primary evidence, the affidavit provided to the Supreme Court by ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha, where he admitted to meeting the Pakistani-American businessman in London, would count as secondary evidence, the barrister added.

Regarding former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani, Barrister Zafarullah said that the commission should either acquit Haqqani or convict him by relying on Pasha’s statement as evidence.

Earlier, the judicial commission had turned down Ijaz’s application seeking that he records his testimony at a location of his choice, after Interior Minister Rehman Malik assured that his name would not be put on the Exit Control List unless directed to do so by the Parliamentary Committee on National Security. Ijaz was given the final chance to appear before the commission on February 9.

The commission, then, sought more time from the Supreme Court to cross-examine its main witness since it was unable to complete its task within the assigned time. The chief justice, upon receiving the request from the commission, fixed a hearing for January 30 to decide whether to extend the deadline of the commission.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 29^th, 2012.