Commission rejects Haqqani’s plea for hearing adjournment

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Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani. — File photo

ISLAMABAD: The Judicial Commission probing the memo issue on Thursday directed former ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani to give his consent to the Black Berry Company, Research in Motion (RIM), regarding waiver of his privacy rights for retrieving data of his Black Berry Messages (BBM) and produce a copy of the letter before the commission on Friday.

The Commission also rejected the application of Haqqani for adjournment of commission hearing on the basis of his health and till the decision of his another application pending in the Supreme Court seeking recording of his statement abroad via video link as it was done for Mansoor Ijaz.

The commission comprises of Chief Justice Balochistan High Court, Justice Qazi Faez Issa, Chief Justice Sindh High Court, Justice Musheer Alam and Chief Justice Islamabad High Court, Justice Iqbal Hameed-ur-Rehman conducted the proceedings in Islamabad High Court.

Director General America's of the Foreign Ministry Sohail Khan was also directed to produce a copy of Haqqani's contract letter along with the basic guideline principals prescribed for an ambassador deputed to the United States.

Former Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha also appeared before the commission and informed that he agreed with the statement of Mansoor Ijaz regarding his meeting with him in the United Kingdom.

However, Pasha rejected his statement regarding the plan of a coup by saying that there was no such plan by the Army after the May 2 covert US raid in Abbottabad.

He told the commission that media wing of ISI had informed him about the articles which were published in the Financial Times.

While recording his testimony, Pasha said he consulted only the military leadership after coming to know about Ijaz's article. “I wanted to know about the author of the memo and directed a source to contact Ijaz who agreed to meet me and share details but outside Pakistan and the US.”

He said the military leadership had asked him to seek more details on the issue, the meeting was arranged in a London hotel on October 22, 2011 which continued for four hours.

“I saw probably 35 BBMs in Ijaz's cell phone which were exchanged between him and Haqqani,” he added.

Pasha said on October 24, 2011 he verbally informed Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani about his meeting with the American businessman and added that on November 18 he met President Asif Ali Zardari and briefed him about the same.

The commission also disposed off the application of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader Yasin Malik after recording and cross-examination of his statement by Akram Sheikh.

However, the commission in its order stated that question of considering testimony of  Malik as part of record will be considered later.

During the proceedings Akram Shiekh submitted an application and stated that the commission should not wait for Haqqani's statement and submit its report to the Supreme Court.

However, the commission head Justice Issa remarked that since the work of commission is yet to complete, it is premature to submit the report to the apex court.

Further hearing was adjourned till Friday.

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