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**az4er** · 12-07-2011, 12:43 AM

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

A document whose very existence was uncertain for a time has made waves in Pakistani politics. Mansoor Ijaz, a Pakistani-American businessman, recently published an article in the Financial Times, alleging that President Asif Ali Zardari feared that the ISI intended to overthrow his government. The president, he added, had asked [former] Ambassador Husain Haqqani to request Admiral Mullen’s assistance in persuading General Kayani to desist from such a move. The admiral says he did receive a memo to this effect but did not take it seriously because of its outlandish content. If it is true that the army chief was planning a coup, he would be open to a charge of treason. If false, the story is intended to create an ugly crisis in this country’s system of governance.

The author of the memorandum solicits Admiral Mullen’s support for replacing General Kayani, the present army chief, with an officer more acceptable to the president and the American government. According to the alleged memo, Mr Zardari also desires to reconstitute the National Security Council and the National Command and Control Unit in order to maintain Pakistan’s nuclear programme with personnel who would be more amenable to American instructions. This was an alleged offer to subvert vital defence-related national institutions to ingratiate the author/s with Admiral Mullen and his associates in Washington even though they had not demanded unbounded Pakistani submission to their will. As one might have expected, the publication of this memorandum raised an agonising storm of protest. It was generally regarded as an act of treason on the part of those who had sponsored it. Political analysts wanted to know whose machination it had been.

The memorandum itself had indicated that the concerns and requests contained in it were those of the highest political authority in Pakistan. That would have to be the president. One has to ask why he wanted to diminish the army as a centre of power in the management of national affairs. It is understood that a bargain for sharing power had been made between the army and the civilian authority years ago. It provided that in addition to administering its own internal affairs and defending the country’s frontiers, the army would make foreign policy with regard to the US, India, China and other major powers. The civilian regime would provide needed services to the people such as the maintenance of public order and tranquillity, education and healthcare. This deal ran into trouble during Nawaz Sharif’s second term as prime minister. But it would appear to have worked reasonably well following General Musharraf’s coup on October 12, 1999.

The identity of the person who had sponsored or authorised this memorandum remains an enigma. Mansoor Ijaz claims that it had been dictated to him by Husain Haqqani, who denies this allegation. His denial is credible. He has excellent command of the English language and is capable of writing elegant prose. The language of the memorandum is pedestrian, tedious, and clumsy. It cannot have been his writing. Nevertheless, and probably for the sake of creating a scapegoat, the government of Pakistan asked him to resign from his post. Mr Mansoor Ijaz is a wealthy American businessman of Pakistani origin. He claims to have access to politically influential persons in the US. But he is not a well known figure in Pakistan, and he may have wanted to break into the Pakistani political scene with a big splash. Mr Nawaz Sharif and his associates have placed the memorandum and related issues before the Supreme Court.

Memogate, as the affair is now being called, has created an extremely troublesome situation. The Supreme Court appointed a commission to scrutinise the contents of this memorandum and the identity of its sponsors. It named Mr Tariq Khosa, a retired police officer of impeccable integrity, to be its chairman. The PPP has launched an angry protest against this move. Its spokesmen have levelled all kinds of accusations against Mr Khosa and his family members, as a result of which he has declined to serve as chairman of the commission. The PPP has virtually declared war against the court. Mr Gilani’s government has been disregarding its verdicts and orders in the past and it has resolved to continue its attitude of non-compliance. It has arbitrarily taken the untenable position that the court did not have the authority to appoint a commission and that it will not cooperate with the one that has been appointed. A collision between the two key institutions of the state has occurred. Jurists agree that the government is on the wrong side in this case, that it is not free to disregard the court’s directions, and that the constitution requires it to carry out all of its decisions. It has also been pointed out that the government’s defiance of the judiciary is liable to create chaos in the country, for it opens the way for the ordinary citizen to evade or disobey judicial authority.

President Zardari, and following him Prime Minister Gilani, are hoping that the storm created by the memorandum will soon subside and become history. This is not likely to happen soon. Political forces in the country other than the PPP have been outraged by Mr Zardari’s presumed role in this affair and some of them, notably PML-N and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), have launched movements to oust him. They may not be able to remove him before his term expires in 2013, but there can be no doubt that his political standing has been badly damaged. It is probable that the next presidential election will not return him to office.

The writer, professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, is currently a visiting professor at the Lahore School of Economics. He can be reached at anwarsyed@cox.net

**unknownprince** · 12-07-2011, 01:40 AM

Exclusive: Mullen confirms existence of secret memo; Pakistani ambassador offers to resign

Posted By Josh Rogin Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - 6:40 PM Share

Pakistani Ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani has become embroiled in a political scandal in Islamabad and offered his resignation today to Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, as Adm. Michael Mullen exclusively confirmed to The Cable the existence of a secret memo that the former Joint Chiefs chairman had earlier not recollected receiving.
Haqqani, who has long been a key link between the civilian government in Pakistan and the Obama administration, has also been battling for years with the Pakistani military and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's chief spy agency -- two organizations whose influence in Washington he has fought to weaken. That battle came to the fore of Pakistani politics this month due to the growing scandal known in Pakistan as "memo-gate," which relates to a secret backchannel memo that was allegedly conveyed from Zardari to Mullen, through Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz.
Ijaz alleged in an Oct. 10 op-ed in the Financial Times that on May 10, in the wake of Osama bin Laden'skilling in Abbottabad, Zardari had offered to replace Pakistan's powerful military and intelligence leadership and cut ties with militant groups. Ijaz said he was directed to craft the memo by a senior Pakistani official close to Zardari. Ijaz has implied -- and the Pakistani press has speculated -- that this official was Haqqani.
Last week, The Cable published an exclusive report on Mullen's comments about the memo. "Adm. Mullen does not know Mr. Ijaz and has no recollection of receiving any correspondence from him," Mullen's spokesman Capt. John Kirby said Nov. 8."I cannot say definitively that correspondence did not come from him -- the admiral received many missives as chairman from many people every day, some official, some not. But he does not recall one from this individual."
Ijaz shot back in an article in Pakistan's The News, in which he published extensive Blackberry Messenger conversations with the Zardari-linked Pakistani official, allegedly Haqqani. He insisted that the memo did, in fact, exist, and that it was delivered from Ijaz to Mullen through another secret go-between, this one a senior U.S. government official.
"There can be no doubt a memorandum was drafted and transmitted to Admiral Mullen with the approval of the highest political level in Pakistan, and that the admiral received it with certainty from a source whom he trusted and who also trusted me," Ijaz wrote.
Kirby told The Cable today that Mullen now acknowledges that the Ijaz memo does exist, that he did receive it -- but that he never paid any attention to it and took no follow up action.
"Adm. Mullen had no recollection of the memo and no relationship with Mr. Ijaz. After the original article appeared on Foreign Policy's website, he felt it incumbent upon himself to check his memory. He reached out to others who he believed might have had knowledge of such a memo, and one of them was able to produce a copy of it," Kirby said. "That said, neither the contents of the memo nor the proof of its existence altered or affected in any way the manner in which Adm. Mullen conducted himself in his relationship with Gen. Kayani and the Pakistani government. He did not find it at all credible and took no note of it then or later. Therefore, he addressed it with no one."
Zardari's civilian political enemies, such as opposition leader Imran Kahn, have seized upon the controversy. Meanwhile, the Pakistani military, led by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, has been pressuring Zardari to start an inquiry into the memo.
Zardari, Kayani, and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani met for the second time in two days on the matter late on Wednesday. Zardari also had a late night meeting with U.S. Ambassadorto Pakistan Cameron Munter on Tuesday night.
Earlier Wednesday, on the floor of Pakistan's National Assembly, Gilani publicly confirmed that Haqqani had been summoned to Islamabad to explain his position on the memo.
"Whether he's ambassador or not, he has to come to Islamabad to explain his position," Gilani said.
In an interview late on Wednesday afternoon, Washington time, Haqqani confirmed to The Cable that he will travel to Islamabad and has sent a letter to Zardari offering his resignation.
"At no point was I asked by you or anyone in the Pakistani government to draft a memo and at no point did I draft or deliver such a memo," Haqqani said that he had written in his letter to Zardari.
"I've been consistently vilified as being against the Pakistani military even though I have only opposed military intervention in political affairs," Haqqani said that hewrote. "It's not easy to operate under the shadow of innuendo and I have not been named by anyone so far, but I am offering to resign in the national interest and leave that to the will of the president."
Haqqani declined to comment to The Cable whether or not he played any role in the controversy surrounding the memo -- for example, discussing it with Ijaz before or after the fact, as the scandal deepened. It's widely rumored that Haqqani and Ijaz have known each other for many years.
It's remains unclear whether Zardari had any knowledge of the memo at the time.In Islamabad, some speculate that Zardari may be trying to put an end to the memo-gate controversy by sacrificing Haqqani, but no decision has yet been made on whether or not Haqqani will step down. If he leaves, he will return to private life having played a key role in the U.S.-Pakistan relationship during its most tumultuous period -- a role that is mired in the secrecy and intrigue of Pakistani politics and diplomacy.
Haqqani told The Cable that he is the target of a media campaign backed by the supporters of the military's role in politics because he has focused on building ties between the U.S. and Pakistani civilian governments, rather than with the Pakistani military.
"Eighty percent of Pakistanis don't want a good relationship with the U.S., and anyone who stands up for the United States can expect to be vilified," he said.

Exclusive: Mullen confirms existence of secret memo; Pakistani ambassador offers to resign | The Cable

**unknownprince** · 12-07-2011, 02:00 AM

"The memo offers a six-point plan for how Pakistan's national security leadership would be altered in favor of U.S. interests. President Asif Ali Zardari would start a formal "independent" inquiry to investigate the harboring of bin Laden and take suggestions from Washington on who would conduct that inquiry. The memo promised this inquiry would identify and punish the Pakistani officials responsible for harboring bin Laden.

The memo pledges that Pakistan would then hand over top al Qaeda and Taliban officials residing in Pakistan, including Ayman Al Zawahiri, Mullah Omar, and Sirajuddin Haqqani, or give U.S. military forces a "green light" to conduct the necessary operations to capture or kill them on Pakistani soil, with the support of Islamabad. "This commitment has the backing of the top echelon on the civilian side of our house," the memo states. "

The memo shock

**unknownprince** · 12-07-2011, 05:05 AM

http://tribune.com.pk/story/303040/u...resign-report/

An American magazine reported on Tuesday that President Asif Ali Zardari may step down due to his poor health condition.
In its report, The Cable quoted a former US government official saying that when US President Barack Obama spoke with Zardari recently regarding Nato’s killing of the 24 Pakistani soldiers, Zardari was “incoherent.”
The report claimed that Zardari was “feeling increased pressure over the Memogate scandal”, and quoted the official as having said: “The noose was getting tighter — it was only a matter of time,” expressing the growing expectation inside the US government that Zardari may be stepping down.
The official also said that parts of the US government were told that Zardari had a “minor heart attack” on Monday night and flew to Dubai via air ambulance today. He may have angioplasty on Wednesday and may also resign on account of “ill health.”
President Zardari left for Dubai on Tuesday to visit his children and undergo some medical tests. He was accompanied by his physicians and personal staff.
According to the president’s personal physician Colonel Salman, the proposed medical tests were “routine” and are linked to a previously diagnosed cardiovascular condition.
In Islamabad, some papers have reported that before Zardari left Pakistan, the Pakistani Army insisted that Zardari be examined by their own physicians, and that the Army doctors determined that Zardari was fine and did not need to leave the country for medical reasons. Zardari’s spokesman has denied that he met with the Army doctors.
President Zardari had announced plan to address a joint sitting of parliament immediately after Muharram, in the aftermath of last week’s Supreme Court decision to set up a commission to probe the memogate scandal.
The Cable report suggests that the session has been postponed indefinitely.

**Insaaf_انصاف** · 12-07-2011, 08:28 AM

Zardari was a corrupt, liar, and he killed his own wife to be president, and he is a traitor ( with USA )

I said " was " because imran khan will be president of paki

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Zardari flees Pakistan over memogate

Zardari flees Pakistan over memogate

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