Islamabad: The Pakistani judicial commission probing the memo scandal on Monday directed government officials to obtain records of the BlackBerry communications between former envoy to the US Husain Haqqani and Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz.
The Supreme Court-appointed commission, which held its first meeting on Monday, asked Attorney General Anwar-ul-Haq to contact Canadian firm Research In Motion and BlackBerry representatives in Pakistan to obtain records of the communications between Haqqani and Ijaz.
Haqqani was forced to resign after Ijaz made public the alleged memo that sought US help to stave off a possible military takeover in Pakistan after the killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in May.
Ijaz has claimed that he drafted and delivered the memo on the instructions of Haqqani.
He further claimed Haqqani was acting at the behest of President Asif Ali Zardari.
Ijaz's claims have been denied by the government.
The apex court had last week formed the three-judge commission to probe the memo issue within four weeks, adding to the pressure on the civilian government over the memogate scandal.
During Monday's meeting, the commission again issued notices to ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, Ijaz, Haqqani, former US National Security Advisor James Jones and other key respondents to appear before it.
The commission directed the government to provide security for all respondents who come to record their statements.
The next meeting of the commission will be held on January 9.
Attorney General Haq told reporters that his office would write to Research In Motion on Monday to obtain the records of the BlackBerry communication.
He said the ISI chief is required to appear before the commission to provide evidence about the contacts between Ijaz and Haq.
Haqqani's counsel Asma Jahangir, one of Pakistan's leading rights activist, on Sunday said she would not represent him before the commission as she had no confidence in the court-appointed panel.
She alleged that the apex court was being influenced by the security establishment.
Comments
0 comment