An Islamabad court has sought a report from the police secretariat by January 10 following a preliminary hearing of a petition calling for the arrest of Mansoor Ijaz, the central figure of the Memogate scandal, upon his arrival in Pakistan.
The petition was filed in the Islamabad District Court by Khalid Jameel Sati, an activist associated with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).
The petitioner’s counsel, Raja Israr Ahmed Abbasi, told the court that Ijaz was a ‘secret agent’ trying to destabilise the democratic government by publishing ‘fake’ and ‘baseless’ memo-related documents.
In addition to the so-called memo, other documents containing statements, articles and analyses published in the international media by Ijaz were sufficient enough to charge him with offences of sections 153-A, 177, 197, 199, 200, 468, 471 and 505 of the Pakistani Penal Code (PPC), Abbasi pointed out, adding that he should be immediately arrested upon arrival in Pakistan.
The petitioner first went to the police who refused to register an FIR against Ijaz. The petition was then sent to Jawad Abbas, the secretary of the judicial commission probing the memo, who then forwarded it to the Islamabad session court judge.
Talking to the media after the hearing, Advocate Abbasi said that it was the perfect time to register an FIR against Ijaz as there was a possibility of him coming to Pakistan to record his testimony before the commission.
Meanwhile, Ijaz’s counsel Advocate Akram Sheikh clarified that certain segments of the media had carried an old statement by him, sent to the commission prior engagement of his legal counsel, which stands superseded by his formal legal stance taken before the commission. He clarified that only the application filed on behalf of Mansoor Ijaz is filed through his counsel on Friday.
Sheikh went on to add that it has formally been brought to the notice of the commission that his client is keen to visit Pakistan to uphold and entrench into the homeland of his ancestors the value system of “truth” by testifying about “The Memorandum”.
Furthermore, it was disclosed that Mansoor had voluntarily waived his privacy rights regarding the Blackberry communication and telephone conversations between him and former ambassador Husain Haqqani. Sheikh said that, unfortunately, the federal government had misused the office of the attorney general in exploiting an earlier communication sent by Ijaz to the secretary of the commission.
“The only logical reason for leaking this privileged communication to the press seems to be discrediting my client” Sheikh added.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 8th, 2012.
COMMENTS (18)
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@Imran: Arrest him? On what grounds?
what is memogate scandal? pls explain me in detail..........
It looks to be a democratic move by PPP.
Let me get this straight.
A US citizen delivering to his own country men a memo written by him allegedly at the request of Pakistani ambassador is violating what law for him to be arrested in PAK?
If any, he may have violated US law by impersonating as an official courier. I doubt that is the case given the gravity of the situation.
First arrest Musharaf and try him for treason for usurping the constitution and for military coupe.
Entertainments in PAK never end.
@Azmat:
How are you going to arrest citizen of another country for claiming to write an email/memo? What is the crime exactly? Are you telling me that, one man who is of Pakistani heritage and not a citizen of Pakistan has the power to topple the government of Pakistan or has the power to stop a take over by military and has the power to influence the United States of America?
Do you people even realize the sheer madness of it all?
@Mohammad Ali Siddiqui:
You will be waiting for that arrival a long time! Keep waiting though.
why to arrest him ? Did HH got arrested or not ? no he didnt instead he is hiding at PM's house like a chicken for quite some time. This petition by some jiyala will be dismissed by the court automatically
So now the noises about him being arrested, will possibly deter him from giving evidence !!! So much for the forces at work here, as they don't want this matter to proceed any further ! Some Democracy !!!
As much as I dislike the guy, since he's not a citizen of Pakistan, people, regardless of their opinion will be obligated to intervene. I'm not going to ramble off the details of why that's a bad thing as it really shouldn't be much of a mystery.
@Imran: But he is not a Pakistani citizen and he has broken NO laws in Pakistan.
this and the visa issue raised by Rehman Malik are political gimmicks to stop MI from testifying in this important case... he should be given full state security to allow him to make his statements in SC...
Nonsense, let the truth unfold without intimidation. Let the justice system work and no one can stop that!
In other words this is going to happen to camouflage the government's suspected and accused involvement in memogate scandal because Mansoor Ijaz is the only main witness in memogate scandal and if the government is innocent then it has to provide complete fool-proof tight security to Mansoor Ijaz to clear itself from the memogate scandal and to prove itself innocent before the nation instead of threatening Mansoor Ijaz of arresting.
The government must make sure to arrest Mansoor Ijaz upon his arrival in Pakistan without any prejudice.
It is not fair that just an unsigned memo written and delivered by Mansoor Ijaz be the only document to be examined by the courts. That would be like taking half the part from “half truth”. There is no dispute in MI claim that he wrote and delivered this memo. The dispute is whether he was a stooge, surrogate and puppet of HH or not? Considering MI’s financial claims and his writings and his Fox News career, he cannot be a puppet for HH or anybody. If all his writings (that are not disputed) against Pakistan, army and ISI are ignored that would be a great incentive and encouragement for other foreigners to do the same and still be a hero in Pakistan. The patriotic Pakistanis should show their love for their country and take this man on his own writings against the very existence of Pakistan.
He's Pakistan's criminal. He must be arrested, and tried for all his anti-Pakistan actions.