Write to RIM again, commission asks AGP

The Judicial Commission investigating the Memogate case on Thursday directed the Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) to write to Canadian company Reseach in Motion (RIM) again with a view to retrieving BlackBerry data. The Commission which met with Justice Qazi Faez Essa in the chair adjourned the hearing till Friday (today).
It also directed the Foreign Ministry to present details regarding any existing agreement between Pakistan and Canada on exchange of dossiers. Earlier, the Commission had expressed its utter displeasure against Foreign Office officials for their failure to comply with commission's order of January 16. Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir was summoned to appear before the commission on a 30-minute notice to explain his position.
Justice Qazi Faez Essa said, "If he is in Pakistan and does not appear before the commission, within 30 minutes he will be held in contempt of court". Both Salman Bashir and Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq appeared before the commission. Foreign Secretary was summoned over the question why the commission was not informed about the High Commission of Canada in Islamabad's reply to the Foreign Office. The High Commission had refused to entertain the request of the Foreign Office.
Justice Essa said the government disobeyed the directives of Supreme Court of Pakistan which had stated that all the documents relevant to the memo case must be submitted to the court, "and by not doing so, the government has violated the court's orders." The court expressed dissatisfaction over Deputy Attorney General's statement that the RIM gave its reply on January 24, and said that if RIM had written a letter on January 24, then why it had not been submitted to the court or the AGP Office.
The commission expressed its disappointment over the way the government responded on Thursday and said if the government failed to bring about a positive change in its attitude Defence Secretary Nargis Sethi would be asked to attend every hearing of the commission.
The Commission had directed the AGP and FO to write a letter to RIM again to retrieve data of the conversation that took place between US businessman Mansoor Ijaz and the then US Ambassador, Hussain Haqqani, soon after the May 2 incident. The FO has also been asked to bring the draft of the letter to be sent to RIM at the Friday's hearing.
While hearing the arguments of Mansoor Ijaz's counsel Akram Sheikh, Justice Essa said that if Ijaz had informed them earlier that he would not come to Pakistan, not only had his act saved time, but it had also resolved the case. In his arguments, Akram Sheikh said he had appeared before the court "voluntarily" and that the court did not have the authority to summon Ijaz, a US citizen, under the Constitution.
He further argued that if Ijaz visited Pakistan, the Parliamentary Committee on National Security would also summon him. After hearing his argument, Justice Essa said he was taking a U-turn. Justice Essa added that earlier, security was being made an issue and now the parliamentary committee was a bone of contention, adding that Ijaz had been displaying "unreasonable fear."
Sheikh also pleaded in the court that the location to record of Ijaz's statement be changed to Zurich or London from Dubai. Justice Essa asked the counsel whether or not there was any guarantee that Ijaz would be recording his statement if court's representatives met him abroad. The AGP and Hussain Haqqani's counsel Zubair Bukhari in their arguments were against Ijaz's counsel's suggestion to go abroad to record statement and termed it a humiliating act for the entire nation. The commission was of the view that it was not sure Mansoor will record his statement to court's panel even in London.