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Memo Scandal Witness Fears ‘Trap,’ Refuses to Travel to Pakistan for Probe
January 23, 2012

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Islamabad. The chief witness in a secret memo scandal that threatens to bring down the president will not travel to Pakistan to testify, claiming the government has set a trap to stop him from leaving, his lawyer said on Monday.

Mansoor Ijaz offered to record his testimony and submit it to a Supreme Court commission that is investigating the scandal, said lawyer Akram Sheikh. Ijaz, a US businessman of Pakistani origin, was scheduled to travel to Pakistan to appear before the commission today but had bickered with the government over who would guarantee his safety.

Ijaz has accused the Pakistani government of orchestrating a memo, which he delivered to the United States last year, asking Washington to help stop a supposed military coup following the American raid that killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The Pakistani government has denied any involvement.

The army was outraged by the memo and denied it ever intended to carry out a coup. It successfully pushed the Supreme Court to investigate against the wishes of the government, which said the matter was already being probed by Parliament.

Ijaz has claimed the Supreme Court commission ordered the military to guarantee his security while in Pakistan, but the government has said the job was the responsibility of the Interior Ministry. Interior Minister Rehman Malik has warned that Ijaz could be prevented from leaving the country if requested by the parliamentary committee probing the scandal.

“It seems like a well-orchestrated trap to hold Mansoor Ijaz indefinitely in Pakistan,” said Sheikh, his lawyer.

Ijaz has accused the former Pakistani ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, of crafting the memo with the support of President Asif Ali Zardari. They have denied any connection to the memo, but Haqqani resigned after the scandal. The Supreme Court has kept the former envoy from leaving the country while it investigates the scandal.

Some observers have questioned Ijaz’s credibility. Those questions increased last week after a music video surfaced in which Ijaz acted as a commentator for a female wrestling match in which both women eventually ripped off their bikinis. Ijaz claimed he didn’t know there would be nudity in the video.

Associated Press