Memo Commission seeks certified copy of Ijaz’s phone bill

LONDON: Mansoor Ijaz lived up to his promise of bringing fresh startling revelations before the judicial commission probing the Memogate that has rocked the government of Pakistan People's Party.

Mansoor Ijaz arrived at the hearing with his stylish Luxembourg-born Belgian wife Valerie on the third day of the hearing. The happy couple posed for pictures at the doorsteps of Pakistan High Commission. Ijaz was brimming with his usual confidence and flair that is now a hallmark of his appearances in front of the judicial commission.

Valerie arrived here on Thursday night to be by her husband's side and was granted permission by the commission to accompany Ijaz, who announced upon his arrival that he will lay bare the conspiracy to cover up Haqqani's and other Pakistan high government officials involvement in the cover-up of the Memo affair in his testimony.

Mansoor Ijaz brought new pressure on his former friend and ambassador to the United States Hussain Haqqani when he told the commission that the first draft of the Memorandum was prepared using exclusively the points made to him by Hussain Haqqani.

In a short statement to the press after the hearing, Ijaz clarified erroneous reports that the first draft of the Memorandum had been sent without Haqqani's approval. He stated with clear uncertain words that he left a voicemail for Haqqani at around 6pm on May 9th, the purpose of which was to advise that Gen. James L. Jones would not deliver the message unless it was in writing.

At about 6:30pm on May 9th, Ijaz informed that Haqqani called him and agreed to the Jones request that the message be sent in writing, and only then did Ijaz forward the first draft of the Memorandum by e-mail to Haqqani a few minutes later.

Later that night, Ijaz's BBM records show that Haqqani sent him a message at 12:30am stating "Msg recvd. Tweaking. Middile of road option sounds good. Will call morning."

This startling revelation seems to show without question the direct involvement of Haqqani in both approving both procedurally the written version of the message he intended for Adm Mullen and the text of the Memorandum itself.

Ijaz revealed that Haqqani was using two SIMs, one for official and one for private use. He presented his phone's bill and transcripts of the correspondence done with Haqqani over fax to the commission. Ijaz told the commission that total 14 calls were made from his phone, out of which, 11 conference calls were made during May, 2011, between him, General James and Haqqani. The three remaining calls to his lawyers in the USA were not considered relevant by the three-judge panel.

The commission ordered the US businessman to write a letter to the phone company asking for a certified copy of the bill and then send it to Islamabad.

Secretary of the three-judge commission Raja Jawad Abbas, PML-N lawyers Rashid A Razvi, Mustafa Ramday, Rana Intezar, and Saif-ur-Rehman were present in the memo hearing room in London.

During his testimony, Ijaz referred to his article in Newsweek which was published on June 3, 2011. Ijaz said that after the publication of the article, Haqqani messaged and then called him, cursed him and abruptly closed the phone on him.

Ijaz disclosed that on October 13 and 14 he received a phone call in Monaco from an ISI official about the memogate affair. He said that he received a phone call from Haqqani on either the 15th or 16th of October from an anonymous number.

Haqqani informed Ijaz that ISI Chief Pasha was coming to London to get the copy of the memo from the editor of the Financial Times and it should be insured that he (Pasha) does not get the copy. Ijaz added that Haqqani was not aware that he was meeting with Pasha as well.

Testifying about his meeting with ISI Chief Pasha, Ijaz said that he met Pasha in London at the Park Lane hotel for four hours on October 22.

Ijaz provided details of the meeting and said Pasha asked him about his (Ijaz's) relationship with Haqqani. Pasha further said that he and Army Chief Kayani wanted to know the truth behind the memo and also wanted the democratic government to complete its tenure.

After completing his evidence stretched over three grueling days, Mansoor Ijaz made a short statement to the media outside the High Commission of Pakistan. He thanked the judicial commission chaired by Chief Justice Balochistan High Court, Qazi Faiz Isa, other judges and legal teams from both sides for doing a "fantastic job and making sure that the evidence was brought out".

He met his "old friend" Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Pakistan's High Commissioner to the UK, for about 20 minutes and thanked him for hosting the commission parties at the high commission premises.

He declared that he was looking forward to the "relevant" cross-examination, beginning on Thursday. "I am ready for any kind of questions and will see how they come with the relevant questions," he concluded.