In a one-of-a-kind development the judicial commission, formed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan to probe the ‘Memogate’ case, recorded the statement of a main witness through a video link on Wednesday.

The witness, Mansoor Ijaz, a Pakistani-American businessman, gave his statement from the Pakistan High Commission in London through a video conference facility while the three-member judicial commission was present at the Islamabad High Court.

According to a Guardian article of January 12, “The allegations made by Mansoor Ijaz reach all the way up to President Asif Zardari, and could end up with treason charges against the country’s former US ambassador, Husain Haqqani, or even the president himself.”

Reportedly the judicial commission had consented to record the statement via videoconferencing after Mansoor Ijaz refused to travel to Pakistan, claiming he feared for his life.

News International reported that during Wednesday’s session Mansoor Ijaz handed over to the judicial commission a 29-page testimony along with other evidence, including his BlackBerry, PIN, phone numbers, emails, code words, documents and other key information in connection with writing of the memo and its delivery to Admiral Mike Mullen through James Jones.

Dawn newspaper reported that Mansoor Ijaz said on Wednesday he delivered a secret memo seeking American help to avert a feared coup after Islamabad’s ambassador to the US told him it was from the president.

The report reads:

The controversial unsigned memo was allegedly an attempt by Zardari, through his close aide and former envoy Hussain Haqqani, to enlist help from the US military to head off a feared coup in Pakistan last year following the killing of Osama bin Laden by US Navy SEALs.”

‘I asked (Haqqani) on whose authority he was doing this?” Ijaz said. “He (Haqqani) said this is coming from the president of Pakistan who wanted to put together a new national security team similar to national security team in USA,’ Ijaz said.

The judicial commission will resume recording the statement from Mansoor Ijaz on Thursday (today).