Pakistan's ex-envoy to the United States formally rejected
allegations he was behind a memo sent to Washington that sought its help
in preventing a purported army coup. He testified Monday before to a
Supreme Court commission beginning its investigation into the affair.
The
probe could add to pressure on the already shaky civilian government,
especially if it states President Asif Ali Zardari knew about the memo.
He, too, denies any connection with the memo.
The country is already struggling with urgent economic and security challenges.
On
Monday government officials said Islamist militants killed 10
paramilitary soldiers they had been holding hostage since last month,
the second time the insurgents have killed security force captives close
to the Afghan border in a week.
The powerful army was outraged
when news of the memo affair broke last year, and Haqqani resigned to
try and limit the impact. The country's main opposition party petitioned
the Supreme Court to probe the affair, and it ordered the inquiry.
Haqqani,
who critics have said should be charged with treason over the affair,
appeared confident as he arrived at a court building in the capital,
flashing a salute to news photographers. His lawyer, Zahid Bokhari, said
Haqqani swore under oath that he "didn't write the memo" or have any
connection to it.
The memo was sent in May to U.S. Adm. Mike Mullen, then the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.
It
asked for his help in stopping a supposed army coup after the
humiliating, unilateral American raid last May that killed Osama bin
Laden, in exchange for a raft of security polices likely to please
Washington.
Right-wing, pro-army nationalists who have long accused Zardari of being too close to Washington have leaped onto the issue.
News
of the memo first surfaced in October when Mansoor Ijaz, a U.S.
businessman of Pakistani origin, wrote a column in London's Financial
Times claiming Haqqani crafted the memo and asked him to send it. Ijaz
also claimed the memo had Zardari's support.
The commission
ordered the government to issue a visa to Ijaz so he could testify. The
body has four weeks to complete its probe.
Alongside its internal
political crisis, the grisly execution of the 10 paramilitary troops
underlined Pakistan's security issues.
The bodies of the Frontier
Corps soldiers were found in the Orakzai region near the Afghan border,
said Naeem Khan, an official in Kohat town. Militants were not
immediately available for comment.
Khan said the 10 were seized Dec. 24 in a militant raid on a security base in Orakzai.
The
incident shows the brutality of the insurgency in the northwest at a
time when some insurgent commanders claim the Pakistani government is
entering into peace talks. The government and the army have denied any
negotiations are under way.
Last week, insurgents from the
Pakistani Taliban killed 15 members of the Frontier Constabulary, a
police paramilitary unit. They put out a statement saying this was in
revenge for an army operation that had killed a top Pakistani Taliban
commander.
The Taliban have been fighting an insurgency in
Pakistan since 2007 that has killed thousands of soldiers, police and
Pakistani civilians. The militants are tied to al-Qaida, which also has
leaders in the northwest and insurgents fighting across the border in
Afghanistan.
The Pakistani army has launched operations against
the Pakistani Taliban in the northwest, but the militants have proven
resilient. Critics accuse the army of going soft on some militants, who
they see as allies in Afghanistan and potential proxies against arch-foe
India. AP
