Memogate: Ijaz to depose before Pak SC, vows to expose Haqqani

Controversial Pakistan-origin American businessman Mansoor Ijaz on Saturday announced that he would be travelling to Pakistan to depose before the Supreme Court on the "memo scandal" to tell the truth.

Ijaz's statement to the media came after Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that there was no threat to him in the country and that he would be provided security during his stay.

However, Ijaz did not reveal the exact date when he would be travelling to Pakistan. But at the same time, he attacked Pakistan's former envoy to the United States Husain Haqqani, alleging that the ex-diplomat has "orchestrated a media campaign" against him.

"Dream on Mr Haqqani. I am coming to Pakistan. And I am going to tell a truth which you will no longer be able to hide from. I will tell it with such clarity and vigor that you and your brilliant legal team will find no space to run from it," Ijaz said, adding that he would welcome cross-examination.

"Haqqani has orchestrated a media campaign against me since his resignation in November designed to introduce doubts and exploit the complexities and nuances of this case that were entirely designed by him with authority from his 'boss'," Ijaz said in his reference to the controversial secret memo, which sought US help in getting rid of Pakistani army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani and the Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha.

Ijaz claims that the memo was written by Haqqani on behalf of President Asif Ali Zardari. Haqqani, who resigned from his ambassadorship, denies that he had any role in drafting of the memo.

"In doing so, he has failed miserably to dent the fundamental facts and corroborative evidence that I will put on the record in front of the Commission that demonstrate his originating role, his higher authority for doing so and his efforts to cover his tracks once the Memorandum was public knowledge," Ijaz said.

Ijaz alleged that Haqqani has furthermore orchestrated a political campaign in Washington to bolster his own credentials, bought and paid for by the Pakistani taxpayer funds that have only served to deepen suspicions about where his real loyalties lie. "Having failed in any way to address the facts in front of the Commission, he and his lawyers now seek to attack my counsel as part of their overall strategy to deter and even alter the course of justice with stall tactics, intimidation schemes and political brinkmanship in the hopes that I will somehow be cowered down and not turn up to testify," he said.