Support for the dreaded Haqqani network across the militant group's historical stronghold in eastern Afghanistan is gradually turning into "resentment" as local leaders say the Haqqani supremo's war is for "Pakistani rupees and power" and they cannot follow him "blindly".
In a veiled attack on the judiciary and his detractors, Pakistan's former ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, on Tuesday dismissed the memo commission's report as 'political and one-sided', hours after the findings were made public.
India welcomed the sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council against Pakistan-based Haqqani militant network and its chief of suicide operations and said the international community has to be united in its efforts to isolate such terror groups which threaten peace and security.
Pakistan's embattled former ambassador to United States, Husain Haqqani, fears he will be murdered if he leaves his sanctuary in the official residence of the Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, a media report said on Wednesday.
The United States on Tuesday designated a top Pakistan-based Haqqani network commander, Mali Khan, as a foreign terrorist and slapped financial sanctions against him, aimed at crippling the finances to the dreaded outfit.
Leading Pakistani lawyer and rights activist Asma Jahangir has said that she would represent former Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani in the Supreme Court in a case related to the controversial secret memo sent to the American military in May.
Branded as a "veritable arm" of the Inter-Services Intelligence, the Haqqani network's operational chief Sirajuddin Haqqani has claimed that his group did not kill Burhanuddin Rabbani and denied any links with the Pakistani spy agency.
The Pakistan-based Haqqani network is suspected to have carried out the brazen suicide attacks on western embassies and Parliament in Kabul, Afghanistan Interior Minister Bismillah Mohammadi has said.
Pakistan's support for Haqqani network has increased through both facilitating additional sanctuary and providing strategic and operational guidance, a top United States think tank has said.
Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence had brought in Haqqani network's chief Sirajuddin Haqqani as the deputy leader of the Taliban last year to protect him from the Americans, a media report said on Sunday.
Brushing aside Islamabad's rebuttal, United States has fired fresh salvos charging Pakistan's military-run Inter Services Intelligence of not only supporting the Haqqani terror network but also 'encouraging' it to launch more brazen strikes on American installations in Afghanistan.
Distancing himself from former United States Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Mike Mullen's remark about the Inter-Services Intelligence-Haqqani network links, US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said Pakistan has been asked to take action against the Haqqani network.
A senior leader of the Haqqani network, blamed for a string of deadly attacks in Afghanistan, was among the three militants killed in a United States drone strike in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region. Jalil Haqqani, a close relative of Haqqani network leader Sirajuddin Haqqani, was among those killed, Pakistani intelligence officials said. The drone fired two missiles at a compound in a village north of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan Agency.
Tahir Ali assesses the strengths, capabilities and leadership of the Haqqani network, one of the dreaded terror groups operating on both sides of the Durand Line
To step up pace of reconciliation talks, the Afghanistan government has opened direct contacts with the Al Qaeda-linked Haqqani faction of Taliban, which is believed to have close ties to Pakistan's military intelligence. Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai's government has been in direct contact with Jalaludin Haqqani, the ageing leader of the Haqqani network, which is based in Pakistan and run by his eldest son Sirajudin.
Badruddin Haqqani, the key operational commander of the Al Qaeda linked Haqqani network, and top Pakistani Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah are believed to have been killed in US drone and air strikes in the tribal region of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
In a move that could have determining effect on the 'war on terror' in Afghanistan, the new American military commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus has suggested putting the dreaded Haqqani group in the list of banned terror groups.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday said the United States did not intend to act unilaterally against militant groups inside Pakistan even as she acknowledged that American officials had held one exploratory meeting with the Haqqani network.
The United Nations Security Council, under India's presidency, has imposed global sanctions against the dreaded Pakistan-based Haqqani militant network and the group's chief of suicide operations.
The United States has said it wants Pakistan to implement UN curbs against three key financers who raised money for the Taliban and Haqqani network, a day after slapping sanctions on the leaders of these outfits.
After over a year of rancorous relations, United States and Pakistani authorities are considering to launch joint counter-terrorism operations against the dreaded Haqqani network, which has carried out several attacks on American troops, in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Pakistan's Supreme Court will on Thursday hear former envoy Husain Haqqani's plea to testify via video link from abroad on a mysterious memo before a judicial commission, which has warned that an arrest warrant could be issued if he does not return to the country.
Pakistan's former ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani said that the judicial commission investigating the memogate was trying to coerce him to confess that President Asif Ali Zardari had urged him to draft the memo to former chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Admiral Mike Mullen.
The United States on Friday asked Pakistan to ensure that Islamabad's former envoy to Washington, Husain Haqqani, gets fair treatment in the ongoing judicial process that is investigating the 'memogate' scandal and said it is watching and monitoring the situation closely.
As the United States prepares to sell F-16s to Pakistan, the country's former top diplomat has warned the Congress that such fighter jets would end up being used against India and not against terrorists.
Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik has ruled out the possibility of Haqqani network's presence in Pakistan. Malik, who held a meeting with Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert S Muller in Islamabad, however, said that if Pakistan receives credible information about the group's presence, the government would launch military action.
Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir and Ambassador to the European Union Jalil Abbas Jilani are among possible contenders to replace Husain Haqqani, who resigned as the country's envoy to the US because of the "Memogate" controversy.
Pakistan's former envoy to the United States Husain Haqqani on Tuesday left for the US after the Supreme Court eased travel restrictions that were imposed on him after he was implicated in the memo scandal.
Pakistan will not take military action against the Haqqani network despite growing pressure from the United States, even as the country's top military commanders have agreed on the need to de-escalate the situation, according to media reports on Monday. These decisions were made at a special meeting of the Corps Commanders chaired by Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Saturday. The commanders vowed to resist US demands for an offensive against the Haqqanis.
While some reports say Sirajuddin Haqqani, the operational chief of Haqqani network has recently held a meeting with Afghan president Hamid Karzai in the presence of Pakistani Army chief Ashfaq Kiyani, Kabul-based sources reveal the meeting did not take place.
The United States will not slap the "terror" label on the Haqqani Network for the safe exit of its troops from Afghanistan, a senior Pakistan diplomat has said.
Even as their killer drones strike at ranking members of the Al Qaeda linked Haqqani network, United States officials secretly met leaders of the group this summer in a Persian Gulf country, in an effort to draw them into talks on winding down the war.
The Pakistan Supreme Court has clarified that the memo commission has not declared Pakistan's former ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani a traitor.
The Al Qaeda is Pakistan is revamping its leadership and infusing young blood as it feels that Pakistan has softened his stand on India. With Badaruddin Sirajuddin Haqqani taking over the operations the terror outfit is expected to wreak more havoc in Kashmir, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
Former Inter-Services Intelligence chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha has admitted that the deadly Haqqani network was created by it and America's Central Intelligence Agency and claimed that the insurgent group's chief Jalaluddin Haqqani had "in fact been invited to the White House by President (Ronald) Reagan".
The Haqqani network is planning to target the United States-led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces in Afghanistan from its new bases in the Kurram agency.
Pakistan plans to ban 10 terror outfits, including 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa and the dreaded Afghan-based Haqqani Network, a move seen by experts as a "paradigm shift" in the country's security policy in the wake of Peshawar school massacre.
Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has rubbished media reports of him organising a secret meeting between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Haqqani network commander Sirajuddin Haqqani in Kabul last month.
A day after filing a petition in the Pakistan Supreme Court seeking a probe into the 'memogate' scandal, former premier Nawaz Sharif on Thursday sought its direction to bar former envoy to the United States, Husain Haqqani, from leaving the country till the probe is completed.
In a severe indictment of Pakistan's links with terror groups, top United States military commander on Thursday said the Inter-Services Intelligence provided support to the Haqqani terror network in carrying out the recent attack on the country's embassy in Kabul.
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