Thaindian News

Islamabad, Jan 9 (IANS) The memo commission Monday directed Pakistan’s attorney general to issue visa to Pakistani American businessman Mansoor Ijaz besides ensuring his security to enable him to arrive in the country.

Ijaz claims to have handed over a memo to the then US military chief Gen. Mike Mullen at the behest of the then Pakistan ambassador to US Husain Haqqani and the government to avert a likely military coup which President Asif Ali Zardari feared following Osama bin Laden’s May 2 killing at Abbottabad near Islamabad.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court set up a three-member commission headed by Chief Justice Balochistan High Court Justice Qazi Faiz Isa to investigate into the memo issue.

Ijaz later wrote a letter to the memo commission that he was ready to visit Pakistan but requested for complete security to himself and the evidence he would be in possession of. His lawyer Akram Shaikh, however, told the commission his client was not given the visa to visit Pakistan, Geo News reported.

The commission Monday instructed the attorney general to issue a visa to Ijaz on urgent basis and ensure his security. It also asked the law officer to provide additional security to Pakistan’ former ambassador to US Husain Haqqani.

The memo commission has summoned Zardari, Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence Ahmed Shuja Pasha, and Husain Haqqani, among others, for its hearing Jan 9.

On the other hand, Kayani informed the commission in writing of his unavailability to appear before it because he was on an official visit to China.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Nawaz Sharif and Haqqani arrived at the Islamabad High Court (IHC) Monday morning to appear before the commission.

A 17-member parliamentary panel — Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) — is separately investigating the memo case.