Memogate commission: Ijaz offered last chance as Malik assures safety
Panel rejects application to record testimony abroad.
ISLAMABAD:
Mansoor Ijaz, the mover and shaker at the heart of Memogate, has been told in firm terms by the judicial commission probing the issue: we will not budge.
After a marathon hearing on Tuesday, the commission gave Ijaz one last chance to present his version of events in person and in Pakistan, inviting him to appear on February 9.
The commission categorically refused Ijaz’s application that he record his testimony at a location of his choice. The uncompromising stance came after Interior Minister Rehman Malik gave assurances that Ijaz’s name would not be placed on the Exit Control List (ECL), unless directed by the parliamentary panel on national security.
Fearing a media escalation of the already-hyped issue, the three-judge judicial commission, comprising the chief justices of Balochistan, Sindh and Islamabad, also barred all petitioners in the case from giving interviews and appearing on television talk shows to discuss the issue.
Preparing for all events, the commission also ordered the Federal Investigation Agency and Civil Aviation Authority to allow the secretary of the commission, Raja Jawad Abbas, to receive Ijaz if he lands on Pakistani soil. Abbas would then take all Ijaz’s data related to the memo, including his BlackBerry phones, into custody.
During the hearing, Justice Qazi Faez Isa, the commission’s head, questioned Akram Sheikh, Ijaz’s lawyer, about the absence of his client from the hearing. Justice Isa said the commission needed to cross-examine Ijaz and also examine all his electronic devices.
In response, Sheikh accused the interior minister of issuing threats to his client if he came to Pakistan to record his statement. Hence, Sheikh argued, Ijaz had wanted to do his business in London or Zurich.
“He thinks Rehman Malik will kill him,” said Sheikh, who then accused Malik of being the head of Benazir Bhutto’s security team when she was killed in 2007, a charge Malik denied.
“This is wrong,” Malik said. “The then government was responsible for her security and I was not in the government at that time.”
Malik, confidently attired in a black suit and pink tie, maintained that, despite pressure from the press, he had never been provoked into threatening Ijaz through the media or any other means.
In a tacit admission that he may have been misquoted, he did say he was a busy man and did not have time to read the newspapers. However, he presented a news clipping published in The Express Tribune and a video to corroborate his statement that he meant Ijaz no harm.
Malik also presented a letter, stating that Ijaz would be provided with the security cover of the Islamabad police, the federal constabulary, Rangers and the army. Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq proposed holding proceedings in an aiport lounge when Ijaz arrived.
Justice Isa then asked Sheikh to ask his client for his thoughts. Ijaz, via email, again expressed apprehensions over Malik’s assurances.
Ultimately, the commission was adjourned till February 9, as it now asks Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry for an extension. It appears it will be some time yet till Memogate closes shut.
(With additional input from AFP)
(Read: Not coming after all)
Published in The Express Tribune, January 25th, 2012.
Mansoor Ijaz, the mover and shaker at the heart of Memogate, has been told in firm terms by the judicial commission probing the issue: we will not budge.
After a marathon hearing on Tuesday, the commission gave Ijaz one last chance to present his version of events in person and in Pakistan, inviting him to appear on February 9.
The commission categorically refused Ijaz’s application that he record his testimony at a location of his choice. The uncompromising stance came after Interior Minister Rehman Malik gave assurances that Ijaz’s name would not be placed on the Exit Control List (ECL), unless directed by the parliamentary panel on national security.
Fearing a media escalation of the already-hyped issue, the three-judge judicial commission, comprising the chief justices of Balochistan, Sindh and Islamabad, also barred all petitioners in the case from giving interviews and appearing on television talk shows to discuss the issue.
Preparing for all events, the commission also ordered the Federal Investigation Agency and Civil Aviation Authority to allow the secretary of the commission, Raja Jawad Abbas, to receive Ijaz if he lands on Pakistani soil. Abbas would then take all Ijaz’s data related to the memo, including his BlackBerry phones, into custody.
During the hearing, Justice Qazi Faez Isa, the commission’s head, questioned Akram Sheikh, Ijaz’s lawyer, about the absence of his client from the hearing. Justice Isa said the commission needed to cross-examine Ijaz and also examine all his electronic devices.
In response, Sheikh accused the interior minister of issuing threats to his client if he came to Pakistan to record his statement. Hence, Sheikh argued, Ijaz had wanted to do his business in London or Zurich.
“He thinks Rehman Malik will kill him,” said Sheikh, who then accused Malik of being the head of Benazir Bhutto’s security team when she was killed in 2007, a charge Malik denied.
“This is wrong,” Malik said. “The then government was responsible for her security and I was not in the government at that time.”
Malik, confidently attired in a black suit and pink tie, maintained that, despite pressure from the press, he had never been provoked into threatening Ijaz through the media or any other means.
In a tacit admission that he may have been misquoted, he did say he was a busy man and did not have time to read the newspapers. However, he presented a news clipping published in The Express Tribune and a video to corroborate his statement that he meant Ijaz no harm.
Malik also presented a letter, stating that Ijaz would be provided with the security cover of the Islamabad police, the federal constabulary, Rangers and the army. Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq proposed holding proceedings in an aiport lounge when Ijaz arrived.
Justice Isa then asked Sheikh to ask his client for his thoughts. Ijaz, via email, again expressed apprehensions over Malik’s assurances.
Ultimately, the commission was adjourned till February 9, as it now asks Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry for an extension. It appears it will be some time yet till Memogate closes shut.
(With additional input from AFP)
(Read: Not coming after all)
Published in The Express Tribune, January 25th, 2012.