ISLAMABAD, Feb 9: The commission investigating the memo case admitted on Thursday that it had achieved nothing so far because of hurdles created by bureaucracy.

The commission, comprising Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Sindh High Court Chief Justice Musheer Alam and Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman, said the “foreign office is hampering the proceedings of the commission” because it did not forward the reply of the Canadian High Commission to the commission secretariat about its refusal to ask the Canada-based Research in Motion to provide the record of the Blackberry sets of former ambassador Husain Haqqani and Pakistani American businessman Mansoor Ijaz.

The commission summoned Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir and warned him of contempt proceedings if he failed to reach the IHC building within 30 minutes.

When Mr Bashir appeared before the commission, he was asked why the Canadian High Commission’s letter of Jan 23 was produced before the commission on Feb 9.

He said the letter was received on Jan 30 and it was forwarded to the attorney general’s office the same day.

The commission asked Akram Sheikh, the counsel of Mansoor Ijaz, what guarantee he could give about his client’s appearance if he was asked to appear before the commission in London or Zurich.

The counsel was directed to contact his client and inform the commission what guarantee he was offering to ensure his presence before the commission.

After contacting Mr Ijaz, Advocate Sheikh informed the commission that his client could not provide any guarantee.

Zahid Hussain Bukhari, the counsel for Husain Haqqani, claimed that Mr Ijaz would not appear before the commission in London or Zurich. He said that recording the statement of Mr Ijaz outside the country would be dangerous for members of the commission.

He said some plain-clothed personnel might abduct Mr Ijaz and the international media would blame the Pakistani government for it.

He said the Blackberry handsets of Mr Haqqani could not be found and his client would not surrender his privacy rights for obtaining record of his handsets from RIM unless tangible evidences were produced against him.

Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq opposed the recording of Mr Ijaz’s statement abroad.

He informed the commission that a notice had been served on former US army chief Admiral Mike Mullen, but he refused to come to Pakistan, while former US national security adviser James Jones did not respond to the notice.