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Mansoor Ijaz continues testimony via video link
ISLAMABAD/LONDON: Mansoor Ijaz arrived at the Pakistani High Commission in London on Friday to record his testimony via video link in front of the memo commission.This is the third day that Ijaz’s testimony is being recorded and the central character of the memo scandal arrived at the High Commission with his wife who was given permission to attend the hearing.
While talking to Geo News in London he said details of the memo were sent to Husain Haqqani via phone and voice mail and the former ambassador acknowledged receiving it.
Secretary of the three-judge commission Raja Jawad Abbas, PML-N lawyers Rashid A Razvi, Mustafa Ramday and Rana Intezar, and head of the chancery at the Pakistan High Commission Aftab Hassan Khan are present in London.
Husain Haqqani's counsel Zahid Bukhari and Mansoor Ijaz's lawyer Akram Sheikh are in Pakistan.
The judicial commission is chaired by Chief Justice Balochistan High Court, Qazi Faiz Isa, while other two members are Chief Justice Sindh High Court, Musheer Alam and Chief Justice Islamabad High Court, Iqbal Hameed-ur-Rehman.
During Friday's testimony, Ijaz handed over four pages of his Blackberry phone bill to the commission from May 23, 2011 which contained the record of his communication with Husain Haqqani.
Zahid Bukhari, the counsel for Haqqani said the copies of the bill did not contain the name and number and were thus ineligible.
Ijaz informed the commission that he had emailed the original bill and the hidden numbers were private.
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.
Ijaz further informed the commission that Haqqani was using two SIMs, for official and private use.
Ijaz during his testimony 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. According to Ijaz, Haqqani during the phone call criticized him and slammed the phone.
On October 13 and 14 Ijaz claims he received a phone call in Monaco from a ISI official.
Ijaz in his testimony 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.
During Thursday’s hearing, Mansoor Ijaz testified that he had written the controversial memo after receiving points from Husain Haqqani and had then delivered it to James Jones.
Courtesy www.geo.tv