ISLAMABAD - Yasin Malik, chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), through an application has requested the Supreme Court to provide him an opportunity to depose before the Memo Commission to answer the allegations of US businessman Mansoor Ijaz levelled against him.
In his application submitted before the apex court on Saturday through his counsel advocate Zafar A Shah, Mr Malik has requested the court to provide him an opportunity to appear before the commission investigating the Memogate scam so that ‘the truth and whole truth’ could come on its record.Ijaz, a man at the centre of memo controversy, recently during cross-examination before the commission gave a statement that Mr Malik at the instance of US government had met the then chief of Indian intelligence agency - RAW.
The counsel for Yasin Malik in the application has stated that his client felt a cleverly calculated mischief in the statement of Mr Mansoor Ijaz. “That my client is not a party to the proceedings but he has been named, an opportunity needs to be provided to him to respond to the statement,” the application further states.
Zafar A Shah has said his client held relevant information and wished to depose before the commission in order to assist it in arriving at truth. “Apart from the facts, to be revealed during the course of deposition before the commission, my client considers it appropriate to state that previously also an attempt was made by the said person to show my client in poor light,” the counsel of Mr Malik said, adding that thus his client wished to voluntarily depose before the commission to enable the people and the commission to know the truth itself.
“My client cannot state all the facts in this communication, as it is neither advisable nor in public interest to do so,” advocate Shah has said in the request sent to the SC. The application also says that Yasin Malik, however, would like to make free, fair and truthful statement before the commission that will surely go a long way in finding answers to the questions forming subject matter of the reference.
The application further says that under the laws governing proceedings of the commission, the panel is required to hear every such person whose testimony is likely to assist it. An opportunity of hearing is required to be provided by the commission more so when material is brought on record, which tends to adversely affect the person named. It is also consistent with the rules of natural justice to hear persons who are likely to be affected in the proceedings of the commission.