Ijaz to appear before memo commission on Jan 16: Counsel

ISLAMABAD: The central character of memogate , Mansoor Ijaz will appear before the Judicial Commission probing the case on January 16, said his counsel Akram Sheikh on Monday.

Talking to media after the hearing of the judicial commission on memogate, Akram Sheikh said Mansoor Ijaz was coming to Pakistan to testify against the Federal Government and 'to uncover the reality'.

He said in addition to Islamabad police, a contingent of army would provide security to Mansoor Ijaz during his presence in Pakistan. "The task of a person's security cannot be left to the Federation alone," he said.

"Mansoor Ijaz will be ready to answer the questions and has asked not to disclose names of those issuing threats which came from the same blackberry that Haqqani used for talking to him," said the Ijaz's counsel in memogate case.

AFP adds: The lawyer for an American businessman allegedly involved in the passing of a memo seeking US help to undermine Pakistan's military on Monday claimed his client had received emailed death threats.

The highly controversial unsigned memo was allegedly an attempt by a close aide of President Asif Ali Zardari to enlist the United States military's help to head off a military coup in Pakistan last year.

The businessman, Mansoor Ijaz, has claimed that Zardari feared the military might overthrow his government and accused then Pakistani ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, of crafting the memo with the president's support.

"Death threats have been received by Mansoor Ijaz through email," Ijaz's lawyer Akram Sheikh told a Pakistani commission probing the case.

The commission ordered tight security for Ijaz upon his arrival in Pakistan to appear at the hearing.

"Army security can also be provided on the request of Akram Sheikh, the lawyer of Mansoor Ijaz," the commission ordered.

Sheikh said Ijaz would appear for the next hearing.

"The government also wants to implicate Ijaz in false cases," Sheikh told the commission.

The commission also ordered Pakistan's embassies in London and Bern to issue a visa for Ijaz "without any condition" so that he could appear at the hearing.

Tensions between the powerful army and government soared over the note, allegedly delivered to then chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, in May last year and made public by Ijaz in October.

The commission comprising three judges also heard from Haqqani who denied any involvement in the memo.

"I had no role in creating, drafting and delivering the memo," he said.

Forensic experts from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) also briefed the commission about the possibility of retrieving BlackBerry messages allegedly sent between the pair.

A request by the ISI chief, Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha for an in camera briefing was turned down by commission head Justice Qazi Faiz Eisa, who said that any sensitive information should be provided in a sealed envelope.

"We will see after receiving this envelope that which part of the information is sensitive and what should be made public," Eisa said.

The hearing was adjourned until Monday, January 16.

The memo offered to overhaul Pakistan's security leadership in exchange for American assistance, as public relations plummeted after the secret US raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan on May 2 last year.

Haqqani resigned over the affair and the Supreme Court has stopped him from leaving Pakistan.

Monday was the second meeting of the commission, being held in the capital Islamabad, which is expected to submit its findings within four weeks.