Frustrated with the refusal of Mansoor Ijaz to appear before the apex court, Barrister Zafarullah Khan, one of the petitioners in the Memogate case, requested the judicial commission on Saturday to summon the director-general of the Inter-Services Intelligence to record his statement as evidence instead.
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 29th, 2012.
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@Mohammad Ali Siddiqui: My Dear, If I am correct, I remember that there is some accordance in Constitution to which the commission can go outside of the country to gather evidence.
Btw, your speech regarding the people of Pakistan was very emotional and I as a Pakistani have "no problem" if commission has to travel to North Pole to collect the evidence as this is a matter of National Security :) Enjoy your day.
@jai zardari: Most of all it's it's the people of Pakistan who are being taken for a ride by all kinds of people at the top. You may feel entitled to Laugh at me but I feel like crying.
@jai zardari: good one! agree!
@Ishrat Salim: If you were following news, you would already know that this idea is not new. It has been suggested several times, but due to legal complications it will not happen.
DG ISI will take his words back
Mansoor Ejaz’s lawyer Akram Sheikh is talking pure nonsense. tomorrow he may turn around and say that since he is representing Mansoor Ejaz the court must accept his evidence for Manssor and hang the PM. Is he a lawyer or a joker? The nation mast question.
how the lawyers have taken over a poor nation the whole country has been turned into a third rate court room as I Indian films
Reasonable suggestions by Barrister Zafarullah to move on. The longer we continue the more time, money and national honor in the world would suffer. The double agent Mansoor leveled allegations against Pakistan, army, ISI and HH. Now he is not interested and let us stop making him the most imp person in Pakistan's history.
DG ISI is not Mansoor Ejaz who has sent the memo through an intermediary to Admiral (R) Mike Mullen.
DG ISI went to meet Mansoor Ejaz on his own.
The evidence of DG ISI cannot be taken as the evidence of Mansoor Ejaz.
The petitioner of Memo Scandal case in Pakistan is trying to divert the case just to score his numbers similar to Mansoor Ejaz's lawyer Akram Sheikh who want the memo scahdal commission to go out of the country and record the statement of Mansoor Ejaz.
People of Pakistan will not accept the judgement of the Commission, if Mansoor Ejaz will not come to Pakistan and appear as a witness before the Commission and in Pakistan.
Doesn't matter DG ISI records his statements about memogate scandal because DG ISI has already declared memogate true and real and shall not withdraw his words or Mansoor Ijaz gives evidences in both forms and conditions now this memogate scandal has created red signal and alarming situation for the present government.