Zeenews Bureau
Toronto: Canadian firm Research In Motion (RIM), BlackBerry phone service provider, has refused to release data related to the memo scandal, reports said on Monday.
Responding to a sealed letter from the attorney general of Pakistan, RIM said that its privacy laws prohibit disclosure of a customer's data to any other party without the consent of the parties concerned, hence Pakistan cannot have the information.
On January 02, a judicial commission probing the memo scandal had directed Pakistan government officials to obtain records of the BlackBerry communications between former envoy to the United States, Husain Haqqani, and Pakistani-American businessman, Mansoor Ijaz.
The Supreme Court-appointed commission had asked Attorney General Anwar-ul-Haq to contact RIM and BlackBerry representatives in Pakistan to obtain records of the communications between Haqqani and Ijaz.
Haqqani was forced to resign after Ijaz made public the alleged memo that sought US help to stave-off a possible military takeover in Pakistan after the killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in May. Ijaz has claimed that he drafted and delivered the memo on the instructions of Haqqani. He further claimed Haqqani was acting at the behest of President Asif Ali Zardari. These claims have been denied by the Pakistani government.
First Published: Monday, January 16, 2012, 10:33