Mansoor Ijaz, the main character of the memogate scandal, said on Thursday that when he testifies in the enquiry about the memo case, he will not spare the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
In a profile interview with the Christian Science Monitor, Ijaz was asked whether Pakistan’s judiciary should be doing more to probe his allegations that ISI chief Lt General Ahmad Shuja Pasha met Arab leaders to discuss the possibility of a coup. He responded: “You’re damn right they ought to ask that question. If the Supreme Court is not willing to, you can be sure [I will].”
In the interview, Ijaz said his actions had strengthened Pakistan’s democracy by helping to create a culture of transparency. “Those people who argue that I helped the very forces I have fought against for decades cannot comprehend the nuance of difference in this day and time. I still am against the ISI interfering… I am still against the military being an umbrella for the proliferation of extremism,” the Monitor quoted Ijaz as saying.
Ijaz repeated his claims about the memo and said former ambassador Husain Haqqani lied and got General James Jones and Admiral Mike Mullen to lie with him. He also claimed for the first time in print that his father, Mujaddid Ijaz, had ties to former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto before becoming a professor at Virginia Tech.
He said his family, business partners and him would now reassess the revised commitments of the Pakistan government made on Thursday and then determine his next steps regarding the possibility of testifying before the judicial commission in Pakistan on February 9. “While it is now uncertain whether Ijaz will appear before the court or not, some of Pakistan’s political opposition leaders are now coming out to back him. On Monday, cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, whose popularity has soared in recent months, said if the government succeeds in preventing Ijaz from testifying, it would prove all his allegations to be true,” the Monitor said.
But it also pointed out that “others are not as impressed”. It quoted the editorial in an English language newspaper that described Ijaz as “a publicity hound with a healthy sense of self-regard”. “As a US citizen, Mr Ijaz has every right to absent himself from Pakistani legal proceedings. But to continue making statements that will never face judicial scrutiny but place the government at risk is highly irresponsible at best,” said the Monitor.
Ijaz also told his life story from his birth in Virginia in 1961 to his current central role in the memo affair in Pakistan. He said he was a successful businessman who wanted to do more than make money. “As my assets grew, my thirst to do something else grew as well. I was no longer content with the penthouse apartments, fast cars, and jet-setting around the world,” he told the Christian Science Monitor.
The article concluded with comments from Shuja Nawaz, the brother of a former army chief, who said the bizarre and colorful affair had now become a distraction that the country could do without.
Mansoor says he will expose ISI when he testifies
