Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S. returned home Sunday after being
summoned to answer questions about his alleged role in a secret memo
scandal that could cost him his job and threatens to engulf the
country's president.
The controversy centers on a memo that was
sent in May to Adm. Mike Mullen, the top U.S. military official at the
time, asking for his help in reining in Pakistan's powerful military
after the covert American raid that killed Osama bin Laden in a
Pakistani garrison town.
Mansoor Ijaz, a U.S. citizen of Pakistani
origin, has claimed that Ambassador Husain Haqqani orchestrated the
memo, which has been published in the media and does not include an
author's name. The document has shocked many Pakistanis because it
offered to replace Pakistan's national security hierarchy with people
favorable to Washington in exchange for help.
Haqqani has denied
the allegations but has offered his resignation to end the controversy.
He is expected to meet with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and
other senior officials during his visit to explain his position on the
scandal.
Ijaz has claimed that Haqqani told him Zardari approved
the secret memo, an explosive allegation that could roil Pakistan's
political system if proved true. The president has denied the claim.
Some commentators have called for those involved in the scandal to be tried for treason.
The
controversy has exacerbated tensions between Pakistan's shaky civilian
government and its powerful army generals. Though Pakistan has a
civilian president, the military retains vast political and economic
power. It has ruled Pakistan, directly or indirectly, for much of the
country's six-decade existence, and has fiercely resisted attempts by
civilian leaders to curb its role.
The memo has fueled politically
toxic charges that the government is colluding with the U.S. against
the interests of the country and its army. Though Washington pumps huge
amounts of aid into the country, the U.S. is highly unpopular here. The
affair has been whipped up by right wing critics of the government and
those close to the military establishment, which doesn't trust Haqqani.
The
memo accuses Pakistan army chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani of plotting
to bring down the government in the aftermath of the bin Laden's
assassination on May 2. It asks Mullen for his "direct intervention"
with Kayani to stop this.
The bin Laden raid sparked outrage at
the U.S. because the Pakistani government was not told about it
beforehand. It also generated unusual domestic criticism of the
Pakistani military because it was not able to stop U.S. commandos from
sneaking into the country.
Some analysts have questioned Ijaz's
credibility and suggested the affair is a conspiracy cooked up by the
military to embarrass the government or remove Haqqani. They have
pointed out that the fear of a coup is strange since the military was on
its heels at the time.
Ijaz, a businessman, first revealed the
secret memo in a column in the Financial Times on Oct. 10. He has a
history of making claims to be well connected with U.S. politicians.
Under the Clinton administration, he said American officials told him
Sudan was willing to turn over then-fugitive bin Laden, who was taking
refuge there. Ijaz said Clinton National Security Adviser Sandy Berger
rejected the deal because he was unwilling to do business with Sudan — a
claim that Berger immediately denied. AP
