A Pakistani court on Monday admitted a new petition asking it to direct authorities to bar sacked Ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, from travelling outside the country.
Only punitive pressure against Pakistan can help in neutralising the Haqqani Network, says senior analyst B Raman
The dreaded Haqqani network has emerged as the 'most ominous threat' to the already fragile US-Pakistan ties as American officials believe the terror group has an 'ongoing relationship' with the ISI and the two were doing more than just talking, a media report has said.
Is the United States actually serious to proceed against the Haqqanis this time or is it yet another ploy on the part of the Obama administration to pressurise one of the most influential power players in Afghanistan to join hands with the international community to hold future negotiations with the Taliban? Amir Mir tries to find out.
Is the United States actually serious to proceed against the Haqqanis this time or is it yet another ploy on the part of the Obama administration to pressurise one of the most influential power players in Afghanistan to join hands with the international community to hold future negotiations with the Taliban? Amir Mir tries to find out.
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Monday lifted a travel ban on the country's former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani, as it gave the judicial commission two more months to complete its probe in the memo scandal that rocked ties between the civilian government and the military.
BlackBerry handsets of Husain Haqqani and Mansoor Ijaz, the central characters of the memo scandal, are being examined by forensic experts at the Pakistan High Commission in London to probe their role in the case.
Amid a raging political storm back home, Pakistan's envoy to the United States Husain Haqqani has left for Islamabad, where he would explain his position with regard to the controversy over a secret memorandum in which his country's civilian leadership purportedly sought American help to stave off a possible military takeover.
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Tuesday directed authorities to ensure former ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani's presence in court over a case related to an alleged memo sent to the US military in 2011 to help stave off a feared coup. The order was issued by a nine-judge larger bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, which is hearing several petitions on the Memogate issue, including one filed by prime minister-designate Nawaz Sharif.
It has been over two years since Husain Haqqani was forced to resign from the coveted post of Pakistan's envoy to the United States.
'They are not following through, and have not followed through, by going after one of the truly great threats that face us here in Afghanistan, which is the coming into Afghanistan from Pakistan of Haqqani fighters,' The Daily Times quoted US Armed Services Committee Chairman, Carl Levin, as saying.
The United States on Friday designated Pakistan-based dreaded Haqqani network as a terrorist group, a move that could degrade the organisation's ability to execute violent attacks and pressurise Islamabad to act militarily against the outfit.
Ramping up the pressure on the Obama administration to designate the Haqqani Network as a foreign terrorist organisation, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has passed a bill through voice vote
The United States at this point of time is not in a position to certify that there is no link between the Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence and the dreaded Haqqani network, a senior top American official has said.
A judicial commission probing a mysterious memo that sought United States help to stave off a military coup in Pakistan on Monday rejected former envoy Husain Haqqani's plea to testify via video link from London.
The already tense relations between the United States and Pakistan further deteriorated when Admiral Mike Mullen on Thursday accused the Inter-Services Intelligence agency for supporting the Haqqani network in planning and executing an assault on the US embassy in Afghanistan.
A Pakistani judicial commission has concluded that the country's former Ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, was behind a mysterious memo that sought US help to stave off a feared coup and said he was "not loyal" to the country while serving as an envoy.
After accusing Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence of supporting the Haqqani terror network, the Obama administration is now relying on the spy agency to help it organise and begin "reconciliation talks" aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan, a media report said in New York.
A lawyer has filed a petition in the Supreme Court asking it to direct authorities to arrest former Pakistani ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani and produce him before a judicial panel probing a mysterious memo that triggered a confrontation between the government and the military.
United States lawmakers have questioned the inordinate delay in designating Haqqani network as a terrorist organisation; which top American officials believe is responsible for the recent attack on its Embassy in Kabul.
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has told her Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar to take strong action against terrorist groups particularly Lashkar-e-Tayiba and the Haqqani network, which is blamed for last week's deadly attack on American embassy in Kabul.
Asma Jahangir has stepped down as former Pakistan envoy Husain Haqqani's lawyer in the Memogate scandal, expressing lack of confidence in the country's Supreme Court's judges and the judicial commission formed to probe the issue.
Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, whose revelations sparked a storm in Pakistan, has said that former envoy to the United States Husain Haqqani should be allowed to speak the truth about the memogate controversy, and be offered immunity from prosecution. "Haqqani should be offered immunity from prosecution in Pakistan and simply tell the Pakistani people the truth about what he -- and his boss -- did. He will be seen as a hero".
Denying that the relationship between the United States and Pakistan has deteriorated, Islamabad's top envoy in Washington has said that both the countries need each other and share multidimensional ties. "Pakistan and the United States have a complex, multidimensional relationship. Both countries need each other. Occasionally there are differences between the best of allies," he said.
In a paradigm shift in its policy against terrorism, Pakistan has included Jamaat-ud-Dawa led by the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and the dreaded Haqqani network in the list of proscribed organisations after the US mounted pressure on the country.
Pakistan's former Ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani said that in WSJ article.
Against the backdrop of the arrest and humiliating treatment meted out to a senior Indian diplomat, a former Pakistani diplomat to the United States has cautioned the American law enforcers to be sensitive towards the global realities on how they treat foreign diplomats in the country.
The United States blocked $300 million military aid to Pakistan as it failed to get a Congressional certification for "satisfactory" action against the dreaded Haqqani network, the Pentagon has said.
Fearing at the possibility of attacks against the US emanating from Pakistan, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on her second visit to the country has called on Islamabad to take further and specific actions against militant networks, British Broadcasting Corporation reported.
Expressing gratification over the lifting of travel curbs imposed on former envoy to the United States Husain Haqqani by the Pakistan's apex court, Washington has said that it wants to see him "treated fairly".
The lawmakers who have written a letter to Clinton in this regard include, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein and Vice Chairman Saxby Chambliss and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers and Ranking Member Dutch Ruppersberger.
If Pakistan decides not to take action against the Haqqani network, the United States would carefully consider how to proceed ahead, a top US official said on Tuesday.
Pakistan continues to tolerate and abet the insurgency in Afghanistan, particularly the Haqqani terror network, as it aims for a Pak-friendly government in Kabul with limited Indian influence, the United States said on Friday in a key report prepared for the American Congress.
The Parliamentary Committee on National Security has been asked by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to conduct an inquiry into the secret memo that sought the US help to prevent a possible military takeover in Pakistan in the wake of the killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May.
India on Sunday said it was good that the Obama administration recognised the links between the Inter-Services Intelligence and Haqqani network of Taliban, amid a raging United States-Pakistan row over the spy agency's support to the dreaded terror outfit.
The United States has asked Pakistan to make sure that intelligence information does not flow to the Haqqani network as part of efforts to squeeze the dreaded terror group that has attacked American interests in Afghanistan. A senior administration official said that there were a range of issues that could help to facilitate in squeezing the Haqqani network from the Pakistani side, and would be complementary to US efforts on the Afghan side of the border.
A US drone strike on Thursday killed at least 7 militants including a commander of the dreaded Haqqani network in northwestern Pakistan's restive tribal region bordering Afghanistan, officials said.
Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence-sponsored Haqqani Network, responsible for the killings of United States and coalition troops in Afghanistan and widely believed to have been responsible for the bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul a few years ago, is on the verge of being designated a Foreign Terrorist Organisation.
A Pakistani judicial panel probing a mysterious memo sent to the United States has rejected Husain Haqqani's plea that ex-ISI chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha appear as a witness, amid claims by the former envoy that the commission has been "converted into a virtual prosecution" against him.
The war of words between Pakistan and the United States on the Inter-Services Intelligence's alleged links with the Haqqani terror network escalated on Friday with Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani describing US military chief Admiral Mike Mullen's accusations as "not based on facts".
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