Memogate scandal: Petition in IHC seeks Mansoor Ijaz’s arrest

Central figure in Memogate case keen to appear before judicial commission.

ISLAMABAD:

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media had carried an old statement by him, sent to the commission prior engagement of his legal counsel, which stands superseded by his formal legal stance taken before the commission.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 8^th, 2012.