'Ijaz's 'angry rhetoric' shows him more like an opposition politician than serious witness'

Islamabad, Jan 24(ANI): An article in a Pakistan daily has accused Mansoor Ijaz and his lawyers of trying to play anti-Pakistan politics and called Ijaz 's seeking army protection as illegal.

"Ijaz's angry rhetoric in recent days has also made him seem less like a serious witness and more like a Pakistani rural politician from the opposition," the Daily Times article said.

It pointed out that Ijaz had recently threatened Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Maliko make public what he claimed as evidence of Malik's involvement in "corrupt practices"

The article also notes that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif's support for Ijaz's claims that the Pakistan government was creating hurdles in his return to the country, seemed like the opposition's attempt to defame the Pakistan People's Party-led government.

It said that Ijaz's claims of the US facilitating his return to Pakistan have been contradicted by the US Embassy in Islamabad and the US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland who clarified that no such assurances were given to him except those available to all US citizens travelling abroad.

The article also pointed out that: "The BlackBerry communications between him and Haqqani do not prove anything just by themselves and will require Mansoor Ijaz's explanations similar to those he provided in his affidavit to the Supreme Court."

The article also said that Ijaz' erratic behaviour have raised doubts over whether he is suffering from mental heath problems.

"In the last three months, Mansoor Ijaz has pitted Pakistani institutions against one another and disrupted the country's stability while pretending to be motivated only by a desire for telling the truth," the article concluded. (ANI)