ISLAMABAD: The judicial commission investigating the memo issue has issued notices to President Asif Ali Zardari, Chief of the Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and others.
A government official assisting the commission told Dawn on Wednesday that they had been asked to present their points of view on the memo allegedly sent to former US military chief Admiral Mike Mullen on behalf of the government of Pakistan to prevent a possible military coup.
They will have to submit their statements or appear before the commission at its next meeting to be held in the Islamabad High Court building on Jan 9.
The three-member commission, formed by the Supreme Court during the hearing on maintainability of the petitions filed by Nawaz Sharif and others in the memo case, had been asked to complete its inquiry in one month.
A source in the presidency said President Zardari, who arrived in Islamabad from Karachi on Wednesday and called a meeting of the PPP's core committee, had received the commission's notice. But the president's spokesman Farhatullah Babar neither denied nor confirmed receipt of the notice.
“I am travelling and not aware of it,” he said. Legal expert Anwar Mansoor is of the opinion that being head of the state it was up to the President to appear before any commission or not.
PML-N spokesman Mushahidullah said Mr Sharif had received the notice.
Meanwhile, Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, a principal character of 'memogate' scandal, wrote a letter to the commission and said he was ready to fly to Islamabad.
He has acquired the services of prominent lawyer Akram Sheikh to pursue his case.
“I was out of the country and during my absence my office accepted the case of Mansoor Ijaz and now we will provide him legal assistance in the memo commission as well as in the Supreme Court,” Akram Sheikh said.
He did not say when would Mr Ijaz arrive. “He will arrive here whenever he will be asked by the commission,” he said.
In another development, former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani expressed fear that he would be killed if he left the Prime Minister's House, where he has been staying after returning from Washington.
In an interview to a British newspaper, he said he had been branded as a 'traitor' and 'Washington lackey' by powerful quarters, adding that he would be murdered like former Punjab governor Salman Taseer, who was killed on January 4 last year.
Mr Haqqani was forced to resign after Mansoor Ijaz claimed that the former ambassador had asked him to deliver to the US government a memo seeking help for removing Pakistan's military leadership.
The commission had asked the authorities concerned to provide security to Mr Haqqani and Mr Ijaz whenever they attended its proceedings.
Prominent human rights leader Asma Jehangir had refused to pursue Mr Haqqani's case in the commission. She said she had no confidence in the commission and that her client would not be given due justice.
Senior lawyer Zahid Hussain Bokhari will provide legal assistance to Mr Haqqani. He told a private TV channel that he would pursue Mr Haqqani's case in the commission. However, he said, he had not held a meeting with his client.
“We will plead his innocence in the case. Mr Haqqani is quite concerned about his security and, therefore, a request will be submitted to the commission to seek relaxation of personal appearance,” he said.
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