Srinagar, March 18 (IANS): Yasin Malik, chairman of the Pro-Azadi Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), has sought permission from the Pakistan Supreme Court to appear before the Memogate probe panel.

Prominent local lawyer, Zaffar Ahmad Shah, has written a letter to the Pakistan Supreme Court seeking permission for his client, Malik, to appear before the panel probing the Memogate scandal.

The development came in the wake of disclosures by Pakistani American businessman Ijaz Mansoor that he had arranged a meeting between Indian RAW chief C.D. Sahay and Malik at the behest of the US government.

"It has become necessary for me to keep the record straight and remove the confusion that has been created in the minds of the people of South Asia in general and of Jammu and Kashmir in particular," Malik said defending his decision to seek permission for appearing before the Memogate panel.

The Pakistan Supreme Court has appointed a three-member panel to probe the disclosures made by Mansoor - in which he had said a memo had been sent to Admiral Mike Mullen seeking help from the Obama administration to avert the military takeover of Pakistan in the wake of the US special forces strike against Osama bin Laden in May last year.