Memogate scandal: Judicial panel official in UK for Ijaz’s testimony
The statements will be recorded on Wednesday at the Pakistan High Commission.
ISLAMABAD:
The judicial commission probing the so-called ‘memogate’ scandal has sent its secretary to the UK to question Mansoor Ijaz.
Secretary for the memo commission, Raja Jawad Abbas, left on Sunday morning to accept evidence and record the statements of the Pakistani-American businessman.
Ijaz will record his statements on Wednesday, February 22 at the Pakistan High Commission in London. Although the businessman had submitted his witness statement to the commission, he will be quizzed via videoconferencing by the defendant, other petitioners as well as other members of the commission.
Earlier this week, he had submitted an 83-page statement to the judicial commission through his counsel in Pakistan, Advocate Akram Sheikh.
In his statement, he confirmed his meeting with ISI Director-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha in London in October last year.
Ijaz has also given details of his interaction with President Asif Ali Zardari in May 2009 at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel in Washington DC. The businessman said he had been invited by former ambassador Hussain Haqqani.
About his relationship with Haqqani, Ijaz wrote that they regularly maintained in contact over the past decade through e-mail, BlackBerry messenger and personal meetings.
Apart from his witness statement, Ijaz requested the commission for an in-camera briefing to record certain comments, which he claimed were not appropriate to be disclosed to others.
In December last year, while hearing a petition of former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif, the Supreme Court had constituted a three-member judicial commission to probe the matter.
The court had appointed Balochistan High Court (BHC) Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa as chairman of the commission and Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman and Sindh High Court (SHC) Chief Justice Mushir Alam as its members.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 20th, 2012.
The judicial commission probing the so-called ‘memogate’ scandal has sent its secretary to the UK to question Mansoor Ijaz.
Secretary for the memo commission, Raja Jawad Abbas, left on Sunday morning to accept evidence and record the statements of the Pakistani-American businessman.
Ijaz will record his statements on Wednesday, February 22 at the Pakistan High Commission in London. Although the businessman had submitted his witness statement to the commission, he will be quizzed via videoconferencing by the defendant, other petitioners as well as other members of the commission.
Earlier this week, he had submitted an 83-page statement to the judicial commission through his counsel in Pakistan, Advocate Akram Sheikh.
In his statement, he confirmed his meeting with ISI Director-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha in London in October last year.
Ijaz has also given details of his interaction with President Asif Ali Zardari in May 2009 at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel in Washington DC. The businessman said he had been invited by former ambassador Hussain Haqqani.
About his relationship with Haqqani, Ijaz wrote that they regularly maintained in contact over the past decade through e-mail, BlackBerry messenger and personal meetings.
Apart from his witness statement, Ijaz requested the commission for an in-camera briefing to record certain comments, which he claimed were not appropriate to be disclosed to others.
In December last year, while hearing a petition of former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif, the Supreme Court had constituted a three-member judicial commission to probe the matter.
The court had appointed Balochistan High Court (BHC) Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa as chairman of the commission and Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman and Sindh High Court (SHC) Chief Justice Mushir Alam as its members.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 20th, 2012.