The judicial commission Monday gave US businessman Mansoor Ijaz last chance to appear in person on January 24 as he has failed to testify before the commission so far mainly on security grounds.
"Make sure that he [Ijaz] will appear by January 24 [as] this is the last chance...we tell you frankly, make up your mind and tell us that he will be here by next hearing and this is the reason we give you [a] date of your choice," a three-member commission headed by Balochistan High Court (BHC) Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa told Ijaz's lawyer.
The commission constituted by Supreme Court resumed the third hearing, in which Ijaz's lawyer Muhammad Akram Shaikh said his client wanted more time to come to Pakistan to appear before the panel to record his statement. Shaikh said Ijaz had been receiving threats to his life and he wanted to get insurance done for the safety of himself and his family. He submitted an application seeking time till January 24 for Ijaz to appear before the three-judge commission.
In his arguments, the counsel further said that interior minister Rehman Malik had strongly implied that some PPP workers would file an application before the court against Ijaz for his role in the removal of Benazir's government. According to the counsel, this purported plan also hampers his client's early decision to visit Pakistan.
The counsel said that Ijaz had made an appointment at the Pakistani Embassy at Berne in Switzerland on Monday to get a visa to travel to Pakistan. "Ijaz has phoned the embassy at 9.00am today for appointment for visa," he said. He further explained that his client had contacted with Pakistan High Commission in London, but was unable to visit it because of rush of media persons outside its building office.
When the members of the commission asked the counsel to clarify once for all whether Ijaz intended to come to Pakistan or not, he said: "This is for sure that he will be here before 9am on January 24". Attorney General for Pakistan Molvi Anwarul Haq told the memo probe commission that Research In Motion (RIM), the Canada-based BlackBerry phone service provider has declined to release data relating to exchange of messages between Haqqani and Ijaz.
The AGP also told the commission that he had talked to the secretary defence to provide foolproof security to Ijaz, "which will be provided to him whenever he lands in Pakistan. It is not an issue at all, we give best possible security," he added. He apprised the commission that the company in its response to a sealed letter from the attorney general of Pakistan declared that its privacy laws strictly prohibited disclosure of a customer's data to any other party without his consent.
The inquiry commission had asked the government to send a formal request to the RIM through the Canadian High Commission in Islamabad with a view to obtaining the required data. In a related development, the lawyer for Pakistan's former envoy to the US Husain Haqqani, Zahid Bokhari, contended that Ijaz would not come to Pakistan and that was why he had been setting all sorts of unnecessary conditions for his visit.
About Ijaz's claims to delay his visit to Pakistan due to interior minister Rehman Malik's statement, Bokhari said the interior minister made that controversial statement only a day ago, while Ijaz was directed on January 09 and in the meantime he did not even apply for the visa, "which means there is something fishy."
The former envoy's lawyer also told reporters that Ijaz was setting frivolous conditions for coming to Pakistan even though the commission had already ordered authorities to deploy army soldiers to provide Ijaz security. "We want that he is given all possible security so that he can come here to testify before the commission. We will welcome him, but we will welcome him with some reservations," Bokhari added.
Bokhari also raised objection to non-submission of original wakalat nama [paper of representation]. Muhammad Akram Shaikh, the lawyer of Mansoor Ijaz said he would be submitting it before the next hearing. About the two cell phones used by Husain Haqqani, which he had been directed to provide to the commission for forensic test, the lawyer said those had gone missing, according to a letter sent to him by Pakistan Embassy in US. He assured the court that he would bring this development to the notice of his client.
However, details of Haqqani's emails and phone numbers, were submitted to the commission but the PIN number of his BlackBerry, the counsel added, his client had forgotten. This prompted the commission to tell his client to recall his PIN code number. Deputy Attorney General Tariq Mehmood Jehangir told the commission that they stood by the undertaking submitted to the commission ensuring foolproof security to Ijaz upon his arrival in the country.