Aziz Haniffa finds out why few people are upset about the Pakistani ambassador's ouster and what the outlook on his successor is.
'Shock, confusion, and paralysis reigned.' 'Pakistan was caught in a most embarrassing situation. It could neither claim credit for the operation nor admit to a dismal intelligence failure and lack of army preparedness.'
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
'Pakistan's leaders have made a serious mistake in describing India as an existential threat and a permanent enemy. If there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies in international relations, then neither Afghanistan nor India should be Pakistan's permanent enemies either,' Husain Haqqani, former Pakistani ambassador envoy to the United States, tells Rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa in a fascinating interview.
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.
Even as there is a sense of positivity over Indo-Pak ties after the outcome of Pakistan polls, a former Pakistani diplomat believes a regime change is unlikely to bring any substantial shift in Islamabad's approach.
Pakistan's political circles were abuzz on Wednesday with speculation about the recall of ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani in the wake of media reports on secret communications between Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and the American administration to avert a possible military takeover.
The judicial commission probing a mysterious memo that sought United States help to stave off a possible coup has directed the Pakistan government to ensure former envoy Husain Haqqani's presence during a hearing on April 12.
International diplomats condemned the assassination of Salmaan Taseer, governor of Pakistan's powerful Punjab province and a key aide of President Asif Ali Zardari.
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.
Mansoor Ijaz, the man who has triggered off a political crisis in Pakistan, is a 'dubious character,' who is sowing 'seeds of dissension,' South Asia experts in the US tell Aziz Haniffa in Washington, DC.
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.
Hours after controversial Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz failed to turn up before a judicial commission probing the memo scandal, a Pakistani parliamentary committee on Monday summoned him to appear before it on January 26.
RIM had informed the Pakistan government that under its privacy policy, BlackBerry data could be released only if a request was made by customers who were involved in the communications.
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.
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.
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.
A Pakistani parliamentarian has demanded that Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha should resign following the claims that he travelled to Arab countries to discuss a move to oust President Asif Ali Zardari.
Ordering a "time-bound" probe into the 'memogate' scandal, Pakistan Supreme Court on Thursday sought responses within 15 days from President Asif Ali Zardari, army and Inter-Services Intelligence chiefs besides others in connection with petitions before it seeking an investigation in to the controversy.
Pakistan on Wednesday named former federal minister Sherry Rehman, a close aide of slain ex-premier Benazir Bhutto, as its new envoy to the United States following the resignation of Ambassador Husain Haqqani over the 'Memogate' controversy.
Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz has said that Pakistan's Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani was the official who asked him to deliver a secret memorandum on behalf of President Asif Ali Zardari seeking help from the Obama administration to prevent a possible military takeover.
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.
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.
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.
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".
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.
A nine-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry also lifted a foreign travel ban on Pakistan's former ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, who had resigned after the scandal became public.
Observing that Pakistan has become a battleground, country's envoy to the United States, Husain Haqqani has said that there may be elements in the Pakistani government who are responsible for the criminal behaviour.
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.
Pakistan on Monday said it will approach Interpol for further probe into the affairs of 'memogate' key figure Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, and asked the United States to take action against him for violating American laws and making false statements about its raid that killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
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.
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.
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.
Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's ambassador to Washington, has been summoned to Islamabad following reports that he sought United States help to rein in the country's powerful generals in the wake of the raid that killed Al QaeOsama bin Laden. He has offered his resignation to defuse a growing controversy at home that threatens to aggravate already precarious relations between Pakistan's military and its government.
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.
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