Memogate: Memo written with traitor Haqqani's consent: Mansoor Ijaz

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Mansoor Ijaz has said that he had prepared the first draft of the controversial memo himself, but he finalised and forwarded it to Americans with the consent of Husain Haqqani, who told him President Zardari has approved the step.

As the judicial commission probing the scandal continued recording USZ businessman’s testimony on Thursday at Pakistan’s High Commission in London via video link, Ijaz said the content of the letter was based on his telephonic conversation with former Pakistani ambassador to USZ Hussain Haqqani.

Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Faiz Essa is heading the judicial commission while Sindh High Court Chief Justice Mushir Alam and Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Hameedur Rehman are the other two members of the commission.

 

The character at the centre of the whole controversy said that former USZ General James Jones had asked for the message to be in written form and he had to author the first draft himself after he was unable to contact Haqqani immediately.

Ijaz continued from where he had left his statements on the first day of the recording and presented more documents to the judicial commission panel. “It was me who initially drafted the memo following my telephonic conversation with Mr Haqqani which lasted for a couple of minutes. Before finalising the memo, I consulted Hussain Haqqani once again who not only agreed to the contents of draft, but also said that ‘Boss’ – a code word for stooge President Zardari  has given a green signal and directed him to go ahead with sending the memo,” Mansoor Ijaz told commission.

Ijaz said he drafted the memo after Haqqani gave him points and requested that it should be delivered to Admiral Mike Mullen, then chairman of the USZ  Joint Chiefs of Staff. The memo was delivered on May 10. Ijaz also claimed that Haqqani said Islamabad would assist the United States “in locating other bad guys and we also commit American boots on the ground,” if Kayani stepped down.

Mansoor Ijaz repeated his claim that he agreed on secret codes for the army, intelligence chiefs and others with Haqqani. He read out his BlackBerry conversation with Husain Haqqani and told the commission that he had sent a message to the envoy on May 9 at 1:40pm saying that he has forwarded his message to the Americans, referred to as “Isphanis”. Ispahani is Haqqani’s wife’s second name.

Ijaz said Haqqani wrote him a message on his BlackBerry referring to the Pakistani government as ‘friend’, and army chief General Ashfaq Kayani and ISI chief Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha as ‘bad boys’. Asked by the commission, what he meant by ‘bad boys’, Ijaz replied: “they are army chief and DG (director general) ISI (Pakistan’s intelligence service).”

Giving further details, Ijaz said on May 12 Haqqani informed him that either the USZ President (Barrack Obama) or Mike Mullen had telephoned Rawalpindi (GHQ). He said many exchanges of messages took place between him and Husain Haqqani which he can send the Memo Commission through email. Mansoor Ijaz also showed this email to the commission from his email account.

Ijaz said he also talked to Haqqani on the phone and the conversion lasted for 2 minutes and 34 seconds. I told him the draft of the memo was ready and then emailed it to Haqqani on May 9, he added. He said they discussed some of the points of the memo in another telephonic conversation held later between the two.

Mansoor Ijaz said he had asked Haqqani if he had the permission of Boss (President Zardari) to which the he replied ‘yes’. Ijaz said he then sent the memo in PDF format to Gen James Jones on the night between May 9 and 10, 2011 at 1:28am after getting a green signal from Haqqani. He sent a final email to Husain Haqqani and Gen James Jones at 8:45am on May 10. The identity of Jones was kept hidden in the email sent to Haqqani, he added. “I did not want Haqqani to know who was helping me,” Mansoor Ijaz.

Ijaz said on May 12 Husain Haqqani informed him that either the USZ President (Barrack Obama) or Mike Mullen had telephoned Rawalpindi (GHQ). Haqqani’s counsel, Zahid Bukhari objected on the manner in which Mansoor Ijaz spoke while recording his testimony.

The commission observed that the bill Mansoor Ijaz had provided yesterday did not bear his name. In response, Ijaz said that the phone was under his corporation and it could be verified.

(The Nation)

Mildly edited by: Xharaf Vsm

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