Preparations complete to record Mansoor Ijaz’s statement

LONDON: Arrangements are complete for the high-profile testimony of Pakistani-American business tycoon Mansoor Ijaz before the memo commission on Wednesday at the High Commission of Pakistan here.

Raja Jawad Abbas, secretary of the judicial commission probing the memogate scandal, on Monday visited the High Commission of Pakistan premises to oversee the preparations being made to ensure that all links are established and the right equipment is in place.

Under the instructions, a senior Pakistani diplomat’s room has been dedicated for the hearing.

An English firm has been hired to install and test the gadgets to ensure that the links is up and running on Wednesday. A large screen was erected in the room reserved for hearing to record the statement, which will be monitored by the commission’s secretary.

The commission will hear from Mansoor Ijaz how and what were the circumstances in which he wrote what’s now known as the Memogate scandal – a reference to Mansoor Ijaz’s memorandum to Admiral Mike Mullen in which the business tycoon and political commentator asked, allegedly on behalf of Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s former ambassador to the United States, the US administration to sternly tell Pakistan’s military not to launch a coup against the Pakistan People’s Party government, following the killing of Osama Bin Laden in a raid on his secret hideout in Abbotabad.

Raja Abbas will visit the High Commission of Pakistan again on Tuesday to oversee that all arrangements are in place and has been asked by the judicial commission to confirm it in writing too on the same day, a day before the formal hearing.

On Monday, Raja Abbas was visiting historical sights in London and window-shopping in the trendy Knightsbridge area.

The News has learnt that Mansoor Ijaz will arrive in London on Tuesday from a European City for his much anticipated appearance before the commission. He will be coming to the High Commission with a suitcase carrying the full dossier in defence of his claims.

Mansoor Ijaz has told the High Commission of Pakistan that he will not have any security brief with him, has not asked for any special arrangements and will arrive to submit his testimony on his own.

Mansoor Ijaz has said that he will not only present before the commission the physical record of Balckberry and email conversation between himself and Husain Haqqani but also has hitherto unknown evidence in his possession which he will reveal before the commission. He has said the new evidence will shock many in the government.

The prospect of Mansoor Ijaz’s appearance before the commission in Pakistan so much unnerved Pakistani government that the whole government machinery was brought into action against Mansoor Ijaz, with Rehman Malik, the interior Minister, leading the attack against Mansoor Ijaz and refusing to commit to provide adequate security to Mansoor Ijaz.