Pak judicial panel questions Mansoor Ijaz's non-appearance

The Pakistani judicial commission probing the memo scandal today questioned the failure of star witness Mansoor Ijaz to appear before it and summoned Interior Minister Rehman Malik to respond to allegations regarding security to be provided to the controversial businessman.

During a meeting at the Islamabad High Court complex, the Supreme Court-appointed panel's Chairman, Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Eesa, enquired why Pakistani-American businessman Ijaz was not coming here to depose before the commission and directed authorities to provide him security whenever he visited the country.

Ijaz's lawyer Akram Sheikh replied that his client wanted to bring all evidence regarding the memo to the commission but the Interior Ministry had threatened to put his name on the Exit Control List, a document with names of all persons barred from travelling out of Pakistan.

This is the second time that Ijaz has failed to make a scheduled appearance before the commission that is probing the memo that had sought the US help to prevent a feared coup in Pakistan after the killing of Osama bin Laden in May last year.

Ijaz was initially asked to appear before the commission on January 16. After he failed to come to Pakistan, the commission acceded to his request to be given more time and asked him to depose on January 24.

Sheikh claimed that Ijaz was receiving threats from government officials and he was not satisfied with the security to be provided by the Interior Ministry.

Sheikh insisted that the army should be the focal organisation for Ijaz's security.

After hearing Sheikh, the commission summoned Interior Minister Malik to respond to the allegations made against him about providing security to Ijaz.

Ijaz yesterday announced that he would not travel to Pakistan to depose about the memo that he made public last year because the government had failed to address his apprehensions about his security in Pakistan.

He asked the commission to record his testimony in London or Zurich.

Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's former envoy to the US, was forced to resign after the memo became public.

Ijaz claimed he had drafted and delivered the memo to the US military on Haqqani's instructions, a charge denied by the government.

In a statement submitted to the commission yesterday, Ijaz said his arrival could have triggered a clash between Pakistan's state institutions.

Zahid Bokhari, the counsel for Husain Haqqani, said Ijaz had insulted the judicial commission by refusing to come to Pakistan to testify.

Bokhari told reporters that Ijaz should be held in contempt of the commission for failing to appear before it several times.

Security was arranged according to Ijaz's demands and if he had any issues with the arrangements, he could have asked for changes, Bokhari said.

He further said there was no law which supports the commission going out of Pakistan to record Ijaz's statements.