Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, the central character of the memo scandal, is being prevented by the government from coming to Pakistan, his counsel Akram Sheikh said here on Monday. “My client will come to Pakistan after Interior Minister Rehman Malik allows him to speak the truth in the memo case. He will come if the interior minister stops talking about registration of a case against him on charges of treason and other ministers also stop threatening him,” Sheikh told reporters at the Islamabad High Court, where his client was supposed to appear before the three-member commission probing the memogate controversy.
Ijaz’s absence at the court on Monday, however, brought some solace to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) workers and affiliated lawyers who had turned up in large groups to witness the commission’s proceeding. To many observers, Ijaz is key to the memo affair and now that he seems to have decided to keep himself away from the commission’s proceedings, it will weaken the case against the PPP government to a great extent. On the other hand, Ijaz’s lawyer was visibly angry, perhaps by the absence of his client and also by the repeated queries by inquisitive reporters, who were interested in nothing other than when Ijaz would come to Pakistan.
“He (Ijaz) will come to expose all facts related to the memo case and that is for sure, but let me also tell you that the government is threatening him,” said Sheikh. He once again said owing to security threats, the schedule of Ijaz’s visit to Islamabad could not be divulged or shared with the media.
Monday was a tough day for Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq, who had to shuttle between the Islamabad High Court and the Supreme Court as the federal government’s representative in the memo case and the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) implementation case. He had requested the Supreme Court for time readjustment owing to his mandatory appearance before the memo commission, but despite that it was a laborious day for the attorney general and at one point, he was seen almost running while being chased by reporters.
Zahid Bokhari, the lawyer of former ambassador Husain Haqqani, told reporters that his request to the commission would be to not allow Ijaz to appear before it anymore as he had earlier said he would do so on January 16.
“Ijaz will not come to Pakistan and he is setting all sorts of unnecessary conditions for his visit. The fact is that he has already been assured by the commission that he would be given full protection but despite that, Ijaz is not coming and only wasting everyone’s time,” Bokhari said.
“We also want him to be 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 reservations,” he added.
Govt not letting Mansoor come to Pakistan: counsel
