ISLAMABAD: All replies are in, except one – and perhaps the most important one.
Thursday saw the Supreme Court’s deadline pass with no reply from President Asif Ali Zardari in the Memogate scandal case.
Replies from the heads of the army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), however, were safely tucked away after they were submitted to Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq. The military’s position appears to have been formed by ISI Director General Shuja Pasha, who seems convinced of foul-play following a shadowy meeting in London with US businessman Mansoor Ijaz.
The federal government did submit a reply: That the SC should dismiss the petition because sufficient investigations by the executive itself are already under way.
Also submitted through the Attorney General (AG), the government’s reply questioned the very necessity of the SC hearings, arguing that the parliamentary committee on national security is already probing Memogate. The government also restated its unwavering position that neither the president nor the prime minister nor any other government official have anything to do with the alleged memo.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s response was to hold an emergency meeting with the AG and other close advisors. Sources said the AG shared the details of the replies by the army and ISI chiefs – and his analysis was that the content of the documents had been very carefully drafted and recommendations about “national interest” are very clear.
COAS puts trust in DG ISI’s judgment
Army chief Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, it seems, is relying on ISI chief Lt Gen Shuja Pasha’s word.
According to a source, Kayani’s reply read as follows: “On October 24, DG ISI briefed me on the issue and his meeting with Mansoor Ijaz in London. In his opinion, sufficient material was available on the memo’s existence and that it had been passed to Admiral Mike Mullen.”
“He also opined that the evidence Mansoor Ijaz gave him was enough to establish that Mr Hussain Haqqani remained in touch with him from May 2011 onwards and exchanged numerous text messages and telephone calls. As per DG ISI’s assessment, the sequence of the text messages and telephone calls [between Ijaz and Haqqani] created a reasonable doubt regarding Haqqani’s association with the memo,” the reply went on to say, the source told The Express Tribune.
“There is nothing denying the fact that the memo exists and it is also admitted to have been delivered and received by the US authorities. Therefore, there may be a need to fully examine the facts and circumstances leading to the conception and issuance of the memo.”
Ijaz has his (long) say
The man responsible for breaking the Memogate story to the world, Mansoor Ijaz, offered to appear before the SC to present “physical evidence”, after filing his reply on Wednesday. A man known to like having his say, Ijaz’s reply is no less than 81 pages long.
A study of the document indicates that Ijaz took extraordinary interest in getting the memo through to Admiral Mike Mullen, as is evident from the number of calls he made to Haqqani and former US national security advisor General James Jones.
While Ijaz, as he has done since his initial Financial Times op-ed, happily sells Haqqani down the river, he is doubtful of President Zardari’s involvement. His reply reads: “It was entirely possible in my mind, given the adverse reaction Haqqani had shown me on the two telephone calls I had with him prior to this meeting, that Haqqani did not properly inform the government of Pakistan of his activities.”
A shadowy meeting at London hotel
In his reply, Ijaz details his meeting with General Pasha in London on October 22. The meeting, at which the ISI chief is supposed to have been convinced of Ijaz’s version of events, at times sounds like a scene from a spy thriller novel.
“We met … at the Park Lane Intercontinental Hotel, Room 210. We both agreed to take batteries out of our telephones while we spoke … He made clear he was in London with the consent of the army chief, Gen Kayani.
“…He asked questions, at times looked a bit astonished at what he was seeing but at no time did he offer any assessment of the data other than to indicate that the records were clear and convincing evidence.
“Intermittently during the data brief, I would open my computer or my Blackberry device and point out how the data was stored, transmitted, displayed, etc. He then carefully analysed dates, times, properties of Microsoft documents to see when the documents were created and how they fit into the timeline I was stating, looked at the original telephone bill logs, checked the time at which each BBM message was sent or received and reviewed my handwritten notes.”
More pin numbers, email addresses and other off-shoots of modern communications were examined. For the head of the ISI, the evidence was satisfactory. Where that now leaves the president, the government and the Supreme Court is a mystery even the best spy novelists might have trouble plotting.
Ijaz relays the email trail
Ijaz claimed that in a call made on May 9, 2011, Haqqani asked him to deliver a ‘verbal message’ to the Americans, preferably to Admiral Mullen. Ijaz called Haqqani the same day and said he had talked to General Jones, who had refused to convey any message to Admiral Mullen.
Ijaz said he drafted the memo on the basis of the handwritten notes he had taken when Haqqani first dictated points to him. Ijaz left a voicemail for Haqqani at his London hotel, asking him to call back for his response to his email containing the first draft of the memorandum.
He also, he claims, rang up General Jones, informing him that Haqqani would need to seek permission from the “requisite authority to let [the memo] go out” in writing. Ijaz informed Haqqani through Blackberry messenger that the memorandum was finally delivered to General Jones and that “it was now up to Admiral Mullen to decide how hard to push on General Kayani”.
Ijaz’s reply goes on to state he will reveal the names of two “key US persons” he contacted to convey the memo to Admiral Mullen, if the SC demands it.
(Read: The memo that opened the gates!)
Published in The Express Tribune, December 16th, 2011.
Prime Minister Gillani discussed the content of the replies received to the Supreme Court from COAS and DG ISI in a detailed manner during the meeting and asked the participants of the meeting for their legal view.
The statement said that Gilani also shared the details of his conversation during a meeting with the Chief of Army Staff on November 13. It was learnt that during the meeting the sequence of the reported BlackBerry messenger conversation between May 9 to 11, 2011 between Husain Haqqani and Mansoor Ijaz also came under discussion.
AG Anwarul Haq shared the details of replies and his personal view was that the content of the documents was very carefully drafted and recommendations about the national interest are very clear. Official added that AG was of the view that govt should not hastily submit a reply from the President’s side. After this meeting According to the Attorney General, President Zardari would not be submitting his reply on Thursday.
The Supreme Court has received replies from the COAS, DG ISI along with the federal secretaries from the cabinet, defence, foreign, law and interior ministries. Mansoor Ijaz who is the main character of the scandal had sent his reply through email to the Supreme Court.
Contrary to the statement released by the SC that the deadline ends today, the AG said that he had one more day to submit the replies.
Meeting between army’s legal branch and AG to draft Kayani’s reply
Earlier today, a meeting was underway between the legal branch personnel of the Pakistan Army and AG Haq.
The meeting had finalised the draft of Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani’s reply to the court in the memogate case. An excerpt from the reply, Kayani and Pasha validated the existence of the memo.
During the last hearing, the court had sought written replies from President Asif Ali Zardari, Kayani, Inter-Services Intelligence Director General Lt Shuja Pasha, former Ambassador to US Husain Haqqani, Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, and the foreign secretary.
The memogate scandal began when Admiral Mike Mullen confirmed the existence of a controversial memo, allegedly sent by President Zardari via a trusted source. Former ambassador to the US Haqqani resigned after being involved in the controversy.
The court had given a two-week deadline for filing the replies, which lapses today.
Mansoor Ijaz submits reply to SC
Pakistani-American businessman Ijaz submitted his reply to the Supreme Court of Pakistan in the memogate scandal earlier on Thursday.
Ijaz, who is one of the respondents in the case, reportedly sent his reply via e-mail to the apex court.
(Read: Memogate: Ambassador Haqqani will give explanation, says Gilani)
In an 81-page e-mail, he sent details related to his interaction with Haqqani — including Blackberry Messenger conversations, SMS and e-mails exchanged between Ijaz and Haqqani, telephone records that include received calls from Haqqani and calls that Ijaz had made.
He also enclosed a letter addressing Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry that stated that he was ready to present himself to the court regardless of security concerns.
(Read: Memogate probe: Mansoor Ijaz ready to appear before SC)
Ijaz also said that he will reveal names of two “key US persons” he had contacted for extending the memo to Mullen, if the Supreme Court demands.
“The senior American political figure, well known and well regarded, insisted on having the memorandum emanate from President Zardari after his signature in order to proceed (give memo to Mullen),” Ijaz stated in the reply.
He said that names of the second and third US persons, who were considered as potential channels for the transmission of the memorandum will only be discussed in “in camera” briefings.
Ijaz claimed that he had been consulting at least two US lawyers before delivering the memo to General Jones to preclude any damage to his interest in the US. He added that General Jones had doubted if the Pakistani officials would be able to deliver the promises made in the memo.
The details Ijaz had given include information that had already been revealed by news agencies and some which were not made public earlier.
In the e-mail, Ijaz had written about his meeting with Haqqani in a London hotel, in which the former ambassador had informed Ijaz that the May 2 Abbottabad raid that killed Osama bin Laden had severed ties between Army, intelligence agencies and the civilian government.
(Read: Memogate: More firefights loom for cornered govt)
Haqqani had also requested Ijaz to help him in this regard. However, in the e-mail Ijaz had stated that he had asked Haqqani how he could help in the matter.
The Pakistani-American businessmen also said that he had forwarded the related data to Pasha on October 22, 2011.
On the last hearing, the court had sought written replies from President Asif Ali Zardari, Kayani, Pasha, Haqqani, Ijaz, and the foreign secretary.
The memogate scandal began when Admiral Mike Mullen confirmed the existence of a controversial memo, allegedly sent by President Zardari via a trusted source. Former ambassador to the US Haqqani resigned after being involved in the controversy.
However, apprehensions loom over the president’s reply, before the case resumes on December 19, since President Zardari is currently in Dubai undergoing medical treatment.