Ijaz punches Haqqani even harder on last day of cross-examination

The star witness in the memo scandal, Mansoor Ijaz, on the last day of his cross-examination on Sunday hit Husain Haqqani even harder by saying that he wanted to replace President Asif Ali Zardari. However, before leaving the Pakistan High Commission London, he said his ‘ex-friend’ was “a man of honour”.
The memo commission directed Haqqani to appear before it for cross-examination on March 26 in Islamabad after declining his request to be available at the Pakistan High Commission London for the purpose. In an earlier question, Ijaz was asked would he still categorise Haqqani as friend and the answer was, “probably no”. But as he finished with his part of the job, he stood up and said, “It is with regret that I have to say this all. He (Haqqani) is a man of honour but no longer my friend. Maybe I could not see him again.” Haqqani was also sitting under the same roof.
To a question put by the commission, Ijaz said he had changed his opinion about Haqqani as a ‘power-thirsty man’, after he received a message from him when he was considering quitting as ambassador, in which he asked him to tell the US top government officials that he was their man and would get their problems resolved in Pakistan. “I reached the conclusion that he was thirsty for power… I know that his thirst for power included an up to the ambition to replace Asif Zardari”, he added.
Earlier, Haqqani requested the commission that he might be allowed to appear before the Pakistan High Commission London for cross-examination but the commission declined it and directed him to come to Pakistan on the next date of hearing on March 26. During cross-examination, Ijaz said he changed his opinion about the ISI as an institution after meeting with Lt General Shuja Pasha adding it all depends on the head of the organisation how he leads it. “After meeting Pasha, I came to the conclusion that he is a man of integrity and in search of truth (on the memorandum)”, he added. Ijaz also termed Pasha a man of integrity.
On the question about integrity of Mike Mullen who first denied existence of the memorandum and later confirmed it, Ijaz said Haqqani and his people orchestrated the denial. “The denial was not issued with permission of Mike Mullen himself rather some one from his staff members did it,” he said. Ijaz said due to Haqqani’s ‘documented’ relations with Zardari and Benazir Bhutto, he believed his words in which he feared a possible coup in Pakistan. However, Ijaz added that he no longer believed that Haqqani would still convey credible information. He said he never imagined that his article in the Financial Times would blow up.
“Had there not been a cover up (denial on memo) from the (Pakistani) Presidency and the Foreign Office to hide the facts on memo, I would not have come up with the truth,” he said. Ijaz said it was not possible for him to know with any precision whether the US had the capacity and ability to know about the possible coup in Pakistan after the events of May 2, 2011.
Asked what prompted the US to intervene in the matter, he said the “US government does things for self interest or mutual interest” and added survival of democracy in Pakistan might have been one of them. To a question by the commission, Ijaz said he was chosen by Ambassador Haqqani to deliver the memo to the US authorities so that it did not have any ‘Pakistani fingerprints’ on it as, he added, Haqqani wanted if at all it comes to public no one in Pakistan could believe that it was from him to the US side.
The commission directed Haqqani’s counsel with a final warning to formally inform it about admission or denial about the evidence record within three days as in case there is some denial from Haqqani on the evidence, the commission could start forensic examination of Ijaz’s Blackberry which allegedly contained communication data. As the wife of Kashmiri Leader Yaseen Malik insisted that her husband did not want deleted from record the portion which contains allegations against him by Ijaz, Justice Isa remarked, “Are you on a suicide mission”. He said the commission was offering her more than she actually asked for and trying to vindicate her husband’s honour by deleting from record a particular chunk and added if he is not agreeing upon it, he can file and application and depose before the commission any time.