ISLAMABAD ? The federation in its reply filed in the Supreme Court on Thursday challenged court?s authority to hear the memogate case, while the chiefs of the Army and the ISI said there was enough evidence suggesting that a plot had been hatched against the army and the country, and called for a through probe into the matter.
The reply filed in the Supreme Court on behalf of Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervaz Kayani on Thursday stated that ?memo was a reality and the issue should be probed?. General Pasha in his reply gave out the details of his meeting with Ijaz Mansoor, the author of the memo at the centre of the controversy, along with his assessment that the material handed over to him by the US national regarding his contacts with Husain Haqqani was credible. The cabinet, law, defence, interior and foreign secretaries also filed their replies in the memogate case through Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) on Thursday, the deadline for the submissions. The replies of the COAS and DG ISI were also submitted through the AGP, who said no changes were made to the replies of Gen Kayani and Lt-Gen Pasha.
The reply from Mansoor Ijaz was also received in the court the same day through foreign ministry secretary. In his 81-page reply, which contains his Witness Statement, BlackBerry Messages (BBM) screen shots and handwritten notes, Ijaz gave detail of his meeting with ISI chief Lt-Gen Shuja Pasha. The former Pakistan Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani has already submitted his reply to the court, maintaining that the allegations levelled against him were false and it was a conspiracy against the country. AGP Maulvi Anwarul Haq talking to the media on Thursday morning said that President Zardari?s reply would not be submitted today (Thursday) and he would file it today (Friday).
The Supreme Court on December 1 after hearing the constitutional petitions on memo scandal had directed the respondents to file their replies to all the petitions within 15 days. The matter has been fixed before a 9-member bench, headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan, on December 19, 2011. The SC office on directives of the chief justice forwarded the copies of the received replies to all the petitioners and respondents in the petitions, with the direction that if they desire to file replies of these replies they may do so before the date of hearing.
Federation?s reply:
The federation in its 3-page reply challenged the Supreme Court jurisdiction to hear the memo case and its constitution of an investigative panel, saying it (federation) is custodian of national sovereignty. It said that parliament, which is an elected institution, was the right platform to investigate the issue. The Parliamentary Committee on National Security, which has representation of all political parties in the parliament, is independent to hold probe into the matter. It also stated that the president and the prime minister have no link with the memo issue. The PPP government has rendered numerous sacrifices for the restoration of democracy in the country, it added.
The federation also gave the reference of another article published in The Independent blog on December 3, 2011. According to the blog General Pasha had been travelling throughout the Arab world and other countries as well right after bin Laden raid (and he ) sought and ?received permission from senior Arab leaders to sack Z (President Zardari)?. ?I was just informed by senior US intel,? Ijaz writes in a message on May 10, ?that GD-SII Mr P asked for, and received permission, from senior Arab leaders a few days ago to sack Z.?
Kayani?s reply:
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Ashfaq Kayani in his reply to the court stated that the memo was a reality and a conspiracy was being hatched against the army and the national security. He says in the reply that the Fiancial Times published Mansoor Ijaz?s story about the memo on October 10. He (Gen Kayani) was informed about DG ISI General Pasha?s meeting with Mansoor Ijaz on October 24 and Pasha was of the opinion that there was enough evidence to validate the authenticity of the memo. The DG ISI reported there was evidence which illustrated that Ijaz was in touch with Husain Haqqani between May 9-11 and that they exchanged text messages and phone calls.
Kayani writes that on October 28 the spokesperson for the foreign ministry and the presidency denied the memo in their separate statements. Admiral Mike Mullen through his spokesperson first denied receiving the memo on November 8 but a few days later changed this stance.
The reply goes on to state that on November 13, during a meeting with Prime Minister Gilani, he (Kayani) advised that those points of the memo which were leaked were very sensitive and that a decision had to be made on it being real or not. He insisted that the prime minister summon Haqqani so he can brief the country?s leadership about this matter. Kayani told the prime minister that time was limited and ?the sooner we found out the facts the better it would be?.
On November 15, Kayani said he was called by the president for a meeting and met him at 2pm in the afternoon. According to Kayani, the prime minister had already informed the president about his recommendations. President Zardari informed Kayani that the decision to summon Haqqani had already been made. On November 21, US General James Jones confirmed that he had taken the memo to Mullen.
Kayani said that he was part of a meeting which also included the prime minister, president and DG ISI on November 22. It was during this meeting that Haqqani briefed all of them and Prime Minister Gilani asked for Haqqani?s resignation and ordered an investigation.
Towards the end Kayani writes that there was enough evidence validating the memo and there should be full review to evaluate the circumstance and facts behind it. General Kayani said that the memo tried to decrease the morale of the Pakistan Army but was unsuccessful in doing so.
Pasha?s reply:
In his 4-page reply over the memo controversy, ISI Director General Ahmad Shuja Pasha stated that he was satisfied with the evidence provided by Mansoor Ijaz. He said Ijaz would not have been able to write the article in Financial Times without having evidence about the memo. He said the article was part of a never-ending propaganda against ISI.
He requested the court to summon Mansoor Ijaz and direct him to produce proofs of the matter. He said without proofs, no one could write such a big thing in his article. He requested the court to summon Blackberry data and computer of Husain Haqqani and order its forensic examination. He said he would fully cooperate with the commission to be constituted by the court on memo issue.
Pasha said he had met Mansoor Ijaz on Oct 22 in London to know the facts. He said he came to know about Ijaz?s article through media wing of the ISI, adding that ISI was in forefront in the security of the state. He stated that he had asked the president in his meeting with him that memo issue should be taken as serious.
Mansoor Ijaz reply:
The reply of Mansoor Ijaz, who claimed of authoring the memo at the asking of Husain Haqqani and delivering it to former US Joint Chief of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, came through Ministry of Foreign Affairs secretary, according to a SC press release.
According to the reply, ISI DG met Ijaz in London with the consent of Gen Kayani. Ahmed Shuja Pasha told him: ?It was his and General Kiyani?s deep desire to see government complete its term.? On the data debriefing, DG looked a bit astonished at what he was seeing but at no time did offer any assessment of the data other than to indicate that the records were ?clear and convincing? evidence.
Mr Ijaz mentioned that Lt-Gen Pasha read the memorandum himself and expressed his surprise and dismay at times disgust and disappointment over the content of the document. But did not ask a single question about the content of the document other than if he would be willing to divulge the names of the others besides Haqqani that would be the part of new national security team. ?I (Mansoor) did so with the caveat that I did not believe either Karamat or Durrani knew anything about the plan to deliver the memo, the contents of the memo or the mindset of Haqqani and those behind him dreaming up the scheme,? says the reply.
During the debrief, Pasha opened Ijaz?s computer, BlackBerry device and questioned how the data was stored, transmitted and displayed. The ISI DG carefully analysed dates, times, ?properties? of Microsoft documents to see when the documents were created and how they fit into the timeline Mansoor stated, Lt-Gen Pasha looked at the original telephone bill logs, checked the time at which each BBM messages were sent or received and also reviewed the handwritten notes.
Ijaz stated that contrary to media report, at no time Lt-Gen Pasha tried to send BBM to Haqqani from his handset. The ISI chief recorded the PIN numbers that Mansoor had for Haqqani, both old and new one. Haqqani did not have the third PIN at that time. Lt-Gen did ask how he stored email addresses and to see the ones he had for Haqqani one from his private university mailbox (Boston University) and one for official use at the embassy in Washington.
About the exchanges of BBM and calls to Husain Haqqani, Ijaz stated that Haqqani explained to him that bin Laden episode created severe stresses between the Pakistan Army/intelligence agencies and the civilian government. In Haqqani?s words army and the ISI pin the blame of Abottabad event on President Zardari?s administration. Mansoor writes that Haqqani said in clear words ?the army wants to bring the government down?.
Haqqani sought his help and said it was urgent to get a message verbally to the Americans. The ex-Pak envoy to US said this was a ?1971 moment.? The right person, as yet undefined, to give this verbal message to was Admiral Mullen. Ijaz mentions in reply that he asked from Haqqani whose authority he was acting on behalf of. Haqqani said there was a like-minded group of people in Islamabad that would be brought on board by ?the boss? a reference to President Zardari as the new national security team, once tension had dissipated. He mentioned two names and I (Mr Ijaz) recognised (Jehangir Karamat and Mahmud Durrani) but added that they would be approached once this was all over.
Mansoor writes, on the insistence of Haqqani, he contacted Gen Jones for delivering the message to Mike Mullen. Gen Jones? first reaction was that Pakistani officials often made verbal promises that they didn?t keep. Gen Jones said: ?He would not consider taking any message to Admiral Mullen if it wasn?t in writing.? Mansoor said he told Haqqani about Gen Jones concerns. Haqqani on May 9, 2011 dictated a series of points that ultimately became the basis of first draft of memo.
Ijaz Mansoor said he sent draft to Haqqani for review and on phone asked about the authority. Haqqani said: ?Don?t worry about that, I?ve got it sorted out with the boss.? Mansoor writes that before giving memo to Gen Jones for Mike Mullen he again confirmed from Haqqani that he had the authority from the highest political level to proceed with the operation. He said: ?I have got the boss?s approval, go ahead.?
In the reply, Ijaz reiterated he was prepared, without hindrance of any type whatsoever, without concern for personal safety, ignoring the threats that were made and continue to be made to him, and with the consent and support of his family, to appear in front of the apex court to present the physical evidence in his possession and to allow such evidence as he has to be forensically tested in any manner chosen by competent, independent and unbiased experts retained by this court that the authenticity of these data can be ascertained with certainty.
However, Mansoor Ijaz, in his Witness Statement described that his loyalties were first and foremost to the national interest of the country where he was born ? the US. He clarified that he acts at the behest of no person in government, outside of government, in any foreign country or the US.
According to the reply, Mansoor Ijaz maintained high-level political and military/intelligence contacts in nearly two dozens countries around the world, during the past decade, but had no contact with any Pakistan government official civilian, judicial, military or intelligence except General Ehsanul Haq, President Asif Ali Zardari, Hussain Haqqani and Lt-Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha. In the end of his Witness Statement, he thanked the Chief Justice of Pakistan and the judges of the apex court for permitting him to be heard in completeness and said he was ready to answer any court questions.
Earlier, the same day a two-member delegation of Pakistan Armed Forces? Judge Advocate General Branch (JAG) Branch met Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq in his office at the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Media quoted sources saying that PPP leader Babar Awan also attending the meeting. They said that the army team with the help of the attorney general gave final touches to the reply which was to be submitted to the apex court on behalf of the Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and ISI Director General Lt-Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha.
The JAG Branch of the Armed Forces is composed of Pakistan?s military senior officers, lawyers and judges who provide legal services to the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marines at all levels of command.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/today-headlines/~3/mpYJKL8Hpn8/Army-govt-poles-apart-on-memo
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