Islamabad: Pakistan’s former ambassador to United States Hussain Haqqani has submitted a written statement along with different documents to the inquiry commission maintaining his position that he had no role in the conceiving, drafting or delivering of the alleged memorandum.
Countering different claims made by Mansoor Ijaz during his witness statement and his cross examination, Haqqani has picked out the contradictions in the statement of Mansoor Ijaz to press home the point that Mansoor remains an unreliable witness and all the evidence that he has presented is cooked up.
Haqqani has reminded the commission that Mansoor Ijaz during his own appearance before the commission had admitted that that no email, BBM or written word exists to show Haqqani’s link to memo.
The statement adds that “It was apparent … that around May 9-12, Ijaz created a trail of text and blackberry messenger exchanges that he could line up alongside contemporaneous telephone calls to falsely and maliciously implicate me in his own scheme and specifically to create evidence that I was involved in a memo that he drafted and gave to General James Jones for onward transmission to Admiral Mullen.”
Giving reasons for his contact with Mansoor on those fateful days Haqqani maintains that he engaged in good faith with Mansoor Ijaz as part of his outreach to several people who were commenting in the US media on the US raid to kill Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad on May 2, 2011.
Haqqani has maintained that he knew from the outset of the so called Memogate that he had not done anything wrong but had got worried after former DG ISI General Pasha’s statement that Ijaz had corroborative evidence that evidence may have been cooked up very expertly so he waited for the full evidence to come forward first and only then to rebut it.
Haqqani while reflecting on the post May 2 scenario said that after May 2, there was no fear of coup in Pakistan and that the real problem was Pakistanis were angered about US raid while world was angered about OBL presence in Pakistan and that he had the difficult task of defending Pakistan, army and ISI under those circumstances. Haqqani has maintained that despite his doing that in his official capacity, he continues to believe ‘in need to reform ISI’.
Haqqani has detailed the circumstances in which he was operating in those days and extensive media and official engagements he had undertaken in those days and how on one such day he had collapsed coming out of a studio and had to be rushed to a hospital.
He has also hinted at divergent signals coming out of Islamabad and how it had become his job to balance Pakistan’s position with the concerns of the rest of the world.
He has also claimed that Cypher telegrams comprising records of meetings with US officials as well as reports on his engagements with the media were duly sent to the Foreign Office in Islamabad must be available.
The statement also vehemently denies that there was any meeting between President Asif Zardari and Mansoor Ijaz in May 2009. Submitting the copy of President’s program during his May 2009 visit to USA, Haqqani maintains that the programme does not mention any meeting with Mansoor.
He has dismissed Mansooor’s claim with the assertion that many Pakistani Americans drop in the hotel where Pakistani high dignitaries are staying for a hand shake or photo opportunity, but he can’t even recall such opportunity for Mansoor.
Taking on the claims that Mansoor had a friendship with him, Haqqani has said that few meetings over a period of ten years or sporadic email exchanges did not make him a friend to Mansoor.
He has maintained that his interactions with Mansoor were more courtesy based as were his contacts with many US nationals of Pakistani origin.
Reflecting on his overall activity during those days Haqqani who has already submitted his telephone billing records to the commission has said, “Furthermore, the proportion of time spent communicating with Ijaz represents a miniscule portion of the overall communications undertaken by me –including telephone calls, text messages and data –during the period”.
Haqqani has also maintained that his contacts with Mansoor Ijaz had almost always been related to his articles and television appearances and that all the so-called BBMs and emails produced by Ijaz also proved that point.
Haqqani has also challenged Mansoor’s claim that both shared the same position on many issues and has given examples where his position and Mansoor’s position on many issues is quite divergent. A point being Haqqani’s close relationship with Shaheed Mohtrama Benazir Bhutto and Mansoor Ijaz’s acerbic attacks on her even after her tragic death.
“I have identified most prominently with the observance of Pakistan’s constitution and for civil, democratic rule by elected politicians under the constitution. Mr. Ijaz, on the other hand, has advocated various alternatives for Pakistan, including hybrid government by military officers and technocrats,” Haqqani has added.
Drawing on the statements given by Mansoor Ijaz himself in the commission where he confirmed that former ambassador had more influence in Washington than him, Haqqani has taken a position that he did not need Mansoor Ijaz for delivering any message to US administration and in fact there was never a need to communicate such a message.
Haqqani has also explained in his statement that there was nothing sinister in his changing handsets as it is a common practice with most cellular phone users and that he does not keep discarded handsets with him. “I have never had to produce old and discarded handsets to prove myself. I do not, as a practice, retain old and discarded telephone handsets and would be surprised to find that too many people do.’
Haqqani has also deliberated at length on his relationship with the armed forces of Pakistan. He maintains that he had worked closely as Ambassador of Pakistan with various organs of defense and intelligence set ups of Pakistan.
“I have always fully supported the armed forces of Pakistan in fulfillment of their duties in accordance with Article 243 of the Constitution of Pakistan.”
On Mansoor Ijaz he adds that as a US citizen he has repeatedly demonstrated his ignorance about the history, constitution and politics of Pakistan during the course of the commission proceedings and it was clear that he had no independent means of substantiating his false assertion about Haqqani’s relationship with the armed forces.
Haqqani has also offered to the Commission that if it directed, he could produce in a sealed envelope letters from commanders of Pakistan’s armed services commending his efforts as ambassador in securing various weapons systems from the United States and facilitating US Pakistan military to military relations in other respects between 2008 and 2011.
In conclusion Haqqani has maintained that Apart from the claims of Mr. Mansoor Ijaz, there was no real evidence of his role, or that of any other Pakistani official or citizen in the authorizing, authoring or delivering the disputed memo.
“It is a tragedy that the Pakistani nation had to endure so much suspicion, suspense and anguish on account of Mr. Ijaz’s claims. I have personally suffered a great deal because of the willingness of some to believe Mr. Ijaz’s well-woven story without prior investigation into his background and his claims”.
To prove his assertions Haqqani has submitted a number of exhibits including some official documents. Online
