The Chief Justice of the Balochistan High Court, Justice Faiz Essa is heading the Memo Commission while Chief Justice Sindh High Court Mushir Alam and Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court, Hameed-ur-Rehman are the other two members of the commission. The commission will resume its proceedings today (Friday).
Mansoor testified to the judicial commission that former National Security Advisor to the US President General James Jones was of the view that the message to be delivered to US Admiral Mike Mullen had to be in a written form and signed by the highest authority. Ijaz admitted that he had authored the first draft himself after he was unable to get hold of Haqqani despite several attempts.
Mansoor further revealed that Haqqani wrote to him a BB Message, describing to the Pakistani government "friend" and General Kayani and Director General ISI Shuja Pasha as "bad boys." He further explained that Ispahani, which is Haqqani's wife's second name, was their codename for the Americans.
Mansoor claimed that Haqqani requested him if he could convey a message to the US authorities to help remove General Kayani. Haqqani also said that in return, the Pakistan government would allow American boots on its soil. Ijaz said he sent a final email to Haqqani and James Jones on May 10. In the final draft, Ijaz claimed that he amended the paragraph regarding access to the wives of Osama bin Laden as Haqqani informed him that the government had already given the US access.
Ijaz further claimed the identity of James Jones was kept secret in the email sent to Haqqani, adding, "I did not want Haqqani to know who was helping me." Ijaz said he had asked Haqqani if he had the permission of 'his boss' (President). According to Ijaz, Haqqani had replied in the affirmative. He said the memo was sent to Jones in word documents and PDF format on May 10.
Ijaz claimed that Haqqani did not know who was interlocutor until James came out with a statement in October-November 2011. "It is however probable. Haqqani assumed that I used James as interlocutor as I had mentioned during my meeting with President Asif Zardari that the President (Obama) could trust James," Ijaz said.
While disposing of three applications filed by Haqqani's counsel, Zahid Bukhari, the commission instructed Ijaz to cooperate with Bukhari if the latter wanted to cross-examine the former. However, the commission termed the possibility of a forensic examination of evidence at this stage premature. The Commission observed that the phone bill Mansoor provided on Wednesday did not bear his name. In his response, Ijaz said the phone was under the name of his corporation and that it could be verified.
Ijaz further revealed that the email used for correspondence with Haqqani and Jones was created by him on the name of his son "Adam Mansoor". Mansoor also presented the details of his lawyer's exchange of email with the officials of RIM who declined to retrieve data. Ijaz said that RIM had informed him and his lawyer that they did not maintain the record of BBMs and conversations for more than 90 days.