<p>Controversial Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz has charged that Pakistan government was behind a ''massive cover-up'' under which it was trying to prevent him from testifying in Islamabad next week over the memo scandal.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Ijaz also threatened to make public what he claimed was evidence of Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s involvement in “corrupt practices” and accused him of indulging in “character assassination”.<br /><br />Ijaz, the central character in the memogate case which has sparked a political crisis in Pakistan, claimed in a statement that Malik and the government of President Asif Ali Zardari were behind a “massive cover-up” to prevent him from testifying next week before a Supreme Court-appointed judicial commission investigating the memo scandal.<br /><br />He contended that Malik had asked Pakistan’s Parliamentary Committee on National Security to “rubber-stamp his demand” for putting him on the Exit Control List.<br /><br />Ijaz accused Malik of playing “devious and underhanded tricks” to prevent his appearance before the commission. “This development comes just as I am finalising my travel arrangements to come to Pakistan,” Ijaz said in the statement.<br /><br />Ijaz had earlier failed to make a scheduled appearance before the commission on Monday. The panel then summoned him to appear before it on January 24. The businessman, who was issued a visa by the Pakistani mission in London on Thursday, declined to say when he would travel to Islamabad to testify before the panel.</p>
<p>Controversial Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz has charged that Pakistan government was behind a ''massive cover-up'' under which it was trying to prevent him from testifying in Islamabad next week over the memo scandal.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Ijaz also threatened to make public what he claimed was evidence of Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s involvement in “corrupt practices” and accused him of indulging in “character assassination”.<br /><br />Ijaz, the central character in the memogate case which has sparked a political crisis in Pakistan, claimed in a statement that Malik and the government of President Asif Ali Zardari were behind a “massive cover-up” to prevent him from testifying next week before a Supreme Court-appointed judicial commission investigating the memo scandal.<br /><br />He contended that Malik had asked Pakistan’s Parliamentary Committee on National Security to “rubber-stamp his demand” for putting him on the Exit Control List.<br /><br />Ijaz accused Malik of playing “devious and underhanded tricks” to prevent his appearance before the commission. “This development comes just as I am finalising my travel arrangements to come to Pakistan,” Ijaz said in the statement.<br /><br />Ijaz had earlier failed to make a scheduled appearance before the commission on Monday. The panel then summoned him to appear before it on January 24. The businessman, who was issued a visa by the Pakistani mission in London on Thursday, declined to say when he would travel to Islamabad to testify before the panel.</p>