The judicial Commission investigating the Memogate scandal on Thursday adjourned the hearing of the case till April 26 and again directed former ambassador to US Hussain Haqqani to appear before the commission with an inventory of his property assets, Blackberry sets and other relevant details.
The commission led by Chief Justice Balochistan High Court Qazi Faiz Isa again directed Mansoor Ijaz and Hussain Haqqani to submit their replies to a letter written to Research in Motion (RIM) regarding BBM (Blackberry Messages) exchange between the two soon after the May 2 incident.
The commission directed Deputy Attorney General Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri to submit the record of government property in the use of Haqqani.
The Commission also held in-camera session with Foreign Ministry to look into the details of secret funds which were used during the ambassadorship of Hussain Haqqani.
Answering to queries of the commission, Director General Foreign Office Sohail Khan said that Haqqani never told the embassy that his Blackberry phone-sets were missing. He further said that he did not have any information about any departmental inquiry that Pakistan Embassy in the US held in relation to his "missing" phone sets.
The commission expressed dissatisfaction over the answers received from the DG Foreign Office in response to various questions, and summoned Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jillani on a short notice. The Secretary also joined the in-camera hearing.
The Counsel for Haqqani, Zahid Bukhari, said his client had already requested the cellular company to issue the record of his conversations with Mansoor Ijaz. He said his client signed an NOC which stated that he would not have any objections to issuance of details regarding his conversations with Ijaz.
Bukhari further said that Haqqani had insisted that since he did not possess his Blackberry handsets he, therefore, could not provide PIN numbers. But, he said his client would have no objection if the commission wanted to use the PIN numbers provided by the other party to obtain the required data.
Bukhari reiterated that his client had refused to appear before the memo investigation commission in Islamabad High Court due to threats to his life.
The commission also came hard on lawyer Asma Jehangir for her statements and questioned her official capacity to issue 'controversial statements. The commission warned Jehangir of disqualification if she continued to make objectionable comments about the memo commission. Jehangir had said that the commission should tell her whether it needed Haqqani's life or his statement.
The DAG Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Haqqani's Counsel Zahid Hussain Bukhari, PML (N) lawyer Mustafa Ramday and Director General of Foreign Office's South and North America desk Sohail Khan were also present during the hearing.
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