Haqqani wants record of Pasha’s meeting with Mansoor: Former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani on Thursday denied authoring or authorising the controversial memo in his affidavit submitted with the Supreme Court. In his counter affidavit to DG ISI Ahmed Shuja Pasha’s affidavit, Haqqani sought the record of the meeting between Pasha and Mansoor Ijaz, saying the record of the said meeting and contents would be crucial for further investigation and to determine the motivation of this highly publicised controversy. In response to paragraph nine of the ISI DG’s affidavit in which Lt General Pasha said the memo issue must be enquired into in a manner best judged by the SC, Haqqani said that the deponent agreed that all such enquiries or investigations must be carried out strictly in accordance with the law and in accordance with due process. Replying to paragraph 3 of ISI DG’s affidavit in which Pasha gives details of his meeting with Mansoor Ijaz in London, Haqqani said the ready agreement of Mansoor Ijaz (who was previously blatantly criticised the ISI) was highly suspicious and his conditions of meeting the ISI DG equally mysterious. Haqqani said “according to Mansoor Ijaz himself, the so-called toppling of a democratic government was information that he passed on to me in an alleged blackberry message and I ignored it”. He said it was worthwhile to discover the investigation on this issue by the ISI DG, including investigation of other damaging articles written by Mansoor Ijaz.
Pasha demands probe as deemed fit by court: In his affidavit submitted in the Supreme Court on Thursday, ISI Director General Lt Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha reiterated his stance that the memo issue must be enquired into a manner best judged by the Supreme Court. He said a piece published in the Financial Times on October 10, 2011, in which Mansoor Ijaz criticised the role of the ISI and suggested some actions against it, were baseless and unfounded. He said the piece said that a senior Pakistani official had been attempting to pass on a message to senior US leaders, indicating imminence of a military takeover in Pakistan. Pasha said no one could write such a piece so blatantly unless he had some evidence to support his assertions, “thus I tasked my sources to know about Mansoor Ijaz and find out if he would agree to share the information about the purported memorandum”. “It was confirmed to me by my sources that Mansoor Ijaz was ready to share the information but only with the ISI director general and also not in US or Pakistan”. Therefore, the meeting took place in London on October 22. He said Mansoor Ijaz briefed “me that our ambassador in Washington had gotten in touch with him and remained in communication about the contents and delivery of memo to the relevant US authorities”. He said Ijaz also showed him the proof of a large number of messages sent through BlackBerry that had been exchanged between Haqqani and him regarding the document, which later came to be known as the memorandum.
He said Ijaz explained to me in fair amount of details about the circumstances leading to the drafting of the memo and why it was delivered through him.
“I told him that I could not believe him unless I saw his BlackBerry and computer myself to form an opinion that the messages were really exchanged between the two individuals.” “Having seen these means of communication used, I was satisfied that he had enough corroborative material to prove his version of the incident,” Pasha said.
He said Ijaz insisted that he would present the details of the evidence himself before a commission or a court of law, if asked to do so.
“I left London the next evening and reported my findings verbally to the chief of army staff,” he said. “I met the president on November 18 when this matter also came under discussion and I briefed him on what, according to my assessment, the facts were. I also suggested to him that the issue pertained to national security and should not be taken lightly”, the affidavit said. Pasha said he suggested the president ask the ambassador in Washington to verify or contradict the matter. He contradicted the allegations appeared in an article published in the Independent on December 13, which suggested that the ISI chief visited middle eastern countries to muster support for toppling the government.
MANSOOR IJAZ’S AFFIDAVIT: In his affidavit, Mansoor Ijaz said he was willing to come to Pakistan and appear in front of the court to prove what he had said. He said he was willing to submit his electronic devices for forensic examination to competent, independent and unbiased examiners with the requisite knowledge and professional licences to conduct such examinations.
He said he was willing to permit access required by a court-appointed investigator.
“Haqqani told me on several occasions during the day-long communications we had on May 9, 2011 and May 10, 2011 that he had the ‘approval of the boss’,” Ijaz said.
Let parliamentary committee probe ‘memogate’: Bashir: Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir has submitted before the Supreme Court that the parliamentary committee on national security shall proceed with the probe into the “memogate” and come up with its recommendations so that parliament could take the necessary steps and actions. In his affidavit, the country’s top diplomat said appropriate steps had already been taken both on the executive side and the parliamentary forum to settle the memo issue. “That it is matter of record that the former ambassador of Pakistan to US has put in resignation on the call of the chief executive and its acceptance has been notified. The parliamentary committee on national security has taken cognizance and is seized of the matter,” the foreign secretary said. He said that it was needless to state that the said committee was fully empowered not only to probe into the matter and record evidence, but also to ensure production of such evidence “as it deems necessary and for this purpose all the powers of the civil court are available to the committee”. The foreign secretary contended that the government had already given directions to all concerned to assist the committee in any manner it deemed fit and proper. “It is, therefore, essential that the committee should proceed with the probe to determine the issue and give its recommendations so that the parliament which has supremacy under the constitution may consider and take appropriate actions and steps, if need be,” he said. He said it was a firm belief and resolve of the present government to safeguard, defend and protect the national integrity and sovereignty on all fronts and that resolve was manifested through the sacrifices made by the coalition partners in the government, including the ultimate sacrifice of Benazir Bhutto.
Memo probe does not fall within scope of Article 184: Sethi: Cabinet Secretary Nargis Sethi has said in her affidavit that the matter of probe into memo case was “not a proper subject matter of proceedings within the meaning and scope of Article 184 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan”.
She said the federal government, as well as the presidency, had already issued denial of the contents of the said article published on October 10, 2011 and it was a stance of the federation that the federal government (including the constitutional head of the state, constitutional chief executive of the country or any other component of the federal government) had neither conceptualised or initiated or in any manner anything to do with the alleged memo or the allegations or views expressed therein.
“It is submitted that without prejudice to the foregoing submission, appropriate steps had already been taken by the competent authorities both on the executive side as well as the parliamentary forum,” she added.
She said the parliamentary committee on national security had taken cognisance of the matter and was seized of the matter. She added that it was needless to state that the said committee was fully empowered to not only probe into the matter and record evidence, but also to ensure production of such evidence as it deemed necessary.
