Memogate: Haqqani accepts Ijaz's allegations; Another Haqqani's "memo" against Pakistan's Nuclear Program Revealed

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The alleged traitor Hussain Haqqani

ISLAMABAD: Mansoor Ijaz, the man whose revelations see no end, has submitted before the Justice Qazi Isa Commission evidence of yet another startling “memo”, which shows Husain Haqqani attacking Pakistan’s nuclear programme. “Selling nuclear technology beyond its borders became possible only because control of Pakistan’s nuclear programme was in the hands of extremist ideologues, which have escaped domestic accountability for years. By allowing Pakistan’s military and intelligence services to escape international accountability as well, the Bush administration has emboldened Pakistan’s extremists,” reads an article that was written by Husain Haqqani and Mansoor Ijaz for Washington Post and other US papers, which refused publish it. The article also reprimanded former US administration for overlooking the development of Pakistan’s nuclear programme.

It was demanded through the same article that the international community needs to uncover the full extent of the damage caused by Pakistan’s rogue nuclear proliferators. “Full disclosure from Pakistani files is needed about other countries or non-state actors - including terrorist groups - that may have obtained or sought the intricate blueprints and materials needed to make nuclear weapons, or more readily assembled and deployable radiological ‘dirty’ bombs. As last week’s railway terrorist bombings and subsequent electoral loss of the ruling party in Spain show, placing bombs - possibly even radiological bombs - in places frequented by civilians remains straightforward for terrorist consortiums, now with stunningly effective political results.” The e-mail exchanges between Husain Haqqani, Mansoor Ijaz and the Washington Post show HH having being the lead author besides making efforts to get the article published in US newspapers. For a joint byline, HH wrote to MI: “I thought we need to add that you’re an American and I’m a Pakistani, to make the point that this is a joint piece of a Paki-American duo.”

MI submitted before the commission all these emails record after he was accused by HH’s counsel for having being against Pakistan’s nuclear programme. Neither HH nor his counsel contradicted this evidence, whose very reading is mind boggling for a Pakistani. The unpublished article reflected on the thinking of the two writers - one of whom was a Pakistani and later made the ambassador of Pakistan to Washington whereas the latter is a born US citizen.


Before this, Husain Haqqani has inadvertently boxed himself by implicitly admitting that he spoke to Mansoor Ijaz for about 16 minutes on May 9 at 12:35. On Saturday, Mansoor Ijaz jumped on this admission with bravado and claimed that this admission before the judicial commission proves his point in its entirety. That call was made from Mansoor Ijaz’s phone to Haqqani’s hotel in London. Speaking to media here, Ijaz said: “Haqqani was Pakistan’s ambassador to America at that time, there was no way for me to find where he was, when, in which room, at what precise time before that particular date because as Pakistan’s ambassador to the USA, his itineraries were being kept a secret and he was not just available for everyone other than the only trusted people.

The only way I could have known about this all - which I did - was through the Blackberry Message (BBM) chats.” Ijaz said Haqqani by admission has accepted that those and the BBM chats are a reality. “BBM chats are an entire stream; you can’t take one and replace with the other. Haqqani has admitted that BBM chats are authentic.” It is believed that judges at the judicial commission will admit all the BBM chats into evidence very soon. No one in the Haqqani legal team had any idea that Mansoor Ijaz will dig out nearly eight years old email with convincing back and forth trail between himself, Haqqani and editors of the US newspapers. In that article, which was never published by any publication but was jointly authored by Haqqani and Ijaz, the duo had attempted to pitch a joint article highly critical of Pakistan Army, calling for sanctions on the country as well as opening up its nuclear facilities for transparent controls.

The surfacing of the article, the copies of which Mansoor Ijaz distributed to media persons here happily, dealt a blow also to Haqqani’s claim that he knew Mansoor Ijaz only in passing references and never took him seriously. He also produced an email in which he gave a reference to General Jones about Haqqani describing him as someone who “plays all sides against the middle, always insuring he is standing in the middle”, “certainly has the ear of Zardari for all that he did for their family when Benazir was living in exile and Zardari was in prison”. However, Ijaz wrote, Haqqani “doesn’t have the ear of anyone in the military or intelligence establishment” and further added: “They, simply put, don’t trust him,” also recommending that Haqqani should not be used as a “communications channel for the most sensitive issues”. In the same email, Ijaz advised Jones to build relations with the second and their tier military generals that are ascending the ladder.”

(The News International)

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