ISLAMABAD:
The judicial commission probing the Memogate case on Saturday issued directives to the secretary of the commission to travel to London to conduct forensic tests of Mansoor Ijaz’s BlackBerry that was allegedly used in the preparation of the controversial memo.
After three days of consecutive proceedings of the commission headed by Justice Qazi Faez Esa at the Islamabad High Court (IHC), the panel directed its secretary Raja Jawad Abbas to travel to London for the forensic examination of the cell phone in question.
It was further revealed that a forensic expert will carry out the test without any interference of the involved parties and the report would be in “simple language along with an affidavit”.
It was established that the secretary may also request the Supreme Court to grant another extension to the judicial commission, since there was no clarity as to how long the expert could take to compile the forensic report.
Meanwhile, former ambassador Husain Haqqani’s counsel Sajid Tanoli opposed the order of forensic examination, contending that it should have been conducted during Ijaz’s cross-examination in London. However, the commission rejected his request.
The commission also rejected Tanoli’s application in which he sought to enter into the case record some documents including a reply from Research In Motion (RIM) and an additional medical certificate — on the grounds that they were unsigned and not original documents.
Earlier, Ijaz’s counsel Akram Sheikh said that his client – the self-confessed whistleblower – was still willing to provide his BlackBerry phone to the commission; however he claimed that Haqqani had filed for damages against his clients in the US.
He added that the BlackBerry set was needed for his defence in the damages suit in the US and if he provides them for the forensic examination,
he would not have any defence evidence for the defamation case.
On the other hand, Haqqani’s counsel said he was unaware of any legal notices served to Ijaz in the US on his client’s behalf.
On last day of the hearing, legal representatives of both the parties involved completed their arguments and Zahid Bukhari, another counsel for Haqqani, summed up his arguments saying that Ijaz’s character was not reliable and the memo scandal was as a conspiracy hatched against Pakistan.
Bukhari in his arguments said that the entire episode was based on Ijaz’s statements, who could not prove anything substantial.
He said, “Mr Iajz is a dubious man who himself confessed that he had links with over two dozen intelligence agencies of the world”.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 6th, 2012.
COMMENTS (6)
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The news says HUSSAIN HAQQANI “requested equal treatment from the court, to be allowed to present his testimony via video link, same as Mansoor Ijaz was” Hussain Haqqani is a Pakistani citizen and Mansoor Ijaz is a rich foreign double agent who has spitted venom against Pakistan, army and ISI, ” Hussain Haqqani has not. Mansoor Ijaz has written the memo and delivered to the US general, ” Hussain Haqqani has not actually done that. It is like a person who conspired, committed and admitted a murder try another man for all his actions with the mere excuse that “he told me so”. Only PCO judges can make such person who actually did the “work” their star witness and the chief prosecutor. In any other court the actual perpetrator of the crime is tried and punished first not honored.
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 Mansoor Ijaz claim that he wrote and delivered this memo. The dispute is whether he was a stooge, surrogate and puppet of Hussain Haqqani or not? Considering Mansoor Ijaz’s financial claims and his writings and his Fox News career, he cannot be a puppet for Hussain Haqqani 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.
The majority of journalists running character assassination campaign against Hussain Haqqanihave a brief history. It is common factor that Journalists who see every colleague who joins the government as an apostate and opportunist. There is also an element of middle-class jealousy, which is wrapped in statements on the lines that he could have climbed the ladder but for his love of moral and ethical values. He is bad for the establishment because he wrote Pakistan between Mosque and Military. This book has indeed exposed the axis of power that has retarded the political and economic growth of the country. It reads like a critique of the establishment’s political history and exploitation of Islamic ideology. He is bad because the establishment believes he influenced the US Congress and Senate in passing the Kerry-Lugar Bill that linked military aid to Pakistan with the testimony from the US secretary of state that the military and its intelligence agencies were subservient to the elected civil government. This clause undoubtedly reflects the same thinking, which has been quite ably pleaded by Haqqaniin his book.
Data of phone calls, facsimile transmission, verbal appearance through video conference and a lot of talks does not mean that Mansoor Ijaz is right. Not a single document is signed by Hussain Haqqani. Mansoor Ijaz has admitted that he wrote the memo. What else proof the Memo Scandal Commission wants to prove that Mansoor Ijaz is playing with his concocted story, whereas the Obama Administration is keeping silent on this issue and not a single word has come out from State Department, confirming that Mansoor Ijaz is right.
All are equal in the eye of law. Courts should not use Principles of Justice selectively, this is again a test for SC to show its neutrality. SC is eager to bend backwards for all those who are against PPP government, this cannot be characterized as Justice and this is not good for SC reputation and reputation of Pakistan and this must come to halt. Sense and sensibility must prevail. If someone from PPP or any other party breaks law that person must be punished fairly according to law. This habit of pretrial to malign the government must end. What will historian write about this? In this particular case (memo-gate) SC has jumped in unnecessarily, may be due to being over zealous, this was bad decision and this will hurt the reputation of SC at the end.
Is there a single SC judge who is not working full time on political cases to topple the elected govt? On the other hand the attack on SC by Memo League and Asghar Khan cases are growing mold for a couple of decades. Qadri case is also not making any progress let alone being presented and decided by the HC or SC. All the money and resources must be devoted toward political and populist cases.