ISLAMABAD - The completion of testimony by Mansoor Ijaz, the key witness in the memogate affair, has left many questions unanswered. Apart from repeating his claims that he drafted and sent the controversial memo to Admiral Michael Mullen through General Jim Jones, Ijaz also opened a Pandora’s box by claiming that the intelligence agencies of four unnamed countries confirmed that the Pakistani military was considering a coup immediately after the Abbottabad raid on May 2, 2011.
Both civilian and military leaders in Pakistan have denied that there was a threat of a coup at that time.
Unless he reveals the names of the intelligence agencies that briefed him, doubts will persist about whether Ijaz was operating at the behest of some of Pakistan’s enemies in creating a wedge between the civilian government and the military leadership through his revelations.
Ijaz said in his statement to the commission that he maintained contacts with two dozen intelligence services around the world. He did not explain the nature of his contacts though he denied being an agent of anyone. But if he is not an agent, he could be an informer or supplier of information to these spy agencies.
Off-the record talks and background interviews with some key officials and diplomats based in Islamabad reveal that Pakistani security and law enforcement agencies services are concerned that RAW, the top Indian secret service, could be among these agencies, as a former head of RAW AS Dulat acknowledged not long ago in an interview that he was once fooled by Mansoor Ijaz into believing he was a US special envoy on the Kashmir issue.
Another secret service that is believed to be currently working against Pakistan is Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS), while the American nationality of Ijaz raises serious concerns about the involvement of the CIA.
After the latest claims by Ijaz, the memo affair no longer hits only at former ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani, who has consistently denied his claims and is expected to give his full version after the former has been fully cross examined.
The target of Ijaz has expanded to include ISI DG Lt-Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, whom he accused of traveling to several countries to garner support for a overthrow, and COAS General Ashfaq Kayani, who is now being accused by Ijaz of threatening President Asif Zardari with a military takeover.
Both President Zardari and Haqqani have said publicly that there was no threat of coup and Mansoor Ijaz is wrong in his claim.
The documents produced as evidence by Ijaz before the judicial commission are without any official origin and carry no signatures. He is now also accusing the Pakistan military of having knowledge about the Abbottabad raid although he says it was probably allowed by President Zardari.
Legal experts believe, in any case, making such serious accusations with only documents of dubious origins does not strengthen his position. Some of these allegations are completely new, leading to the question why Mansoor Ijaz waited till now to make them public.
After his meeting with General Pasha in October in which he accused Husain Haqqani of asking him to write the disputed memo, Mansoor Ijaz had been with-holding his attacks on the Pakistan army and the country’s premier intelligence agency.
During cross-examination by lawyers from PML-N, Ijaz has reverted to his past position of attacking the key Pakistani institutions. Several experts have asked how Mansoor Ijaz can be believed about the authorship of the memo if he is not telling the truth about the army and the ISI.
During the course of his statement, Mansoor Ijaz also inadvertently admitted that he had not saved all his BlackBerry chats with Haqqani. This contradicts his claim that the BBM data is somehow the key evidence in deciding the mystery. He also said he drafted and wrote the memo, which is different from his previous statements that Haqqani dictated it to him. This means that the language of the memo is of Ijaz and not that of Haqqani.
Interestingly, Ijaz has submitted his telephone bills but the telephone is registered to his company, not him. The commission would have to demand that Ijaz submit a list of all phone numbers registered to his company to find out how many telephones he could use and if any of them was used to contact General James Jones before May 9, 2011.
According to Ijaz, he was contacted by Haqqani for the first time on May 9, 2011 although General Jones says Ijaz had contacted him before that date to ask him to deliver the memo. Even if all possible phone bills of Ijaz and Haqqani are available, the bills cannot settle the dispute over what was said in any telephonic conversation. Furthermore, Ijaz did not produce anything in writing from Haqqani that shows any connection of the former envoy or the Pakistani leadership with the memo.
According to many, the most glaring technical contradiction in the testimony is the statement that he changed his BlackBerry set in July 2011.
Until now, Ijaz has accused Haqqani of changing the handsets to cover up his contacts with him. But if Ijaz also changed his handset, he needs to explain why he did so. If Ijaz opted for a new model, the Haqqani’s change of cellular phone would also be seen as routine.