Pakistan's U.S. Envoy Forced Out over 'Memogate'
Pakistan's U.S. envoy has been forced to step down as the government launches an investigation into claims that he sought U.S. help, allegedly at the president's behest, to forestall a feared military coup.
Ambassador Husain Haqqani, a close aide of President Asif Ali Zardari, has played a key role in helping Pakistan's government navigate turbulent relations with Washington which nosedived over the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
Haqqani has denied any wrongdoing over what the Pakistani media has dubbed "memogate". But he had offered nevertheless to step down, and late Tuesday Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani formally ordered his resignation.
"The prime minister asked Pakistan ambassador to the U.S. Mr. Husain Haqqani to submit his resignation," Gilani's spokesman said in a statement, adding that the government had ordered a "detailed investigation" into the issue.
Media reports have implicated Haqqani in a memo allegedly sent from Zardari to Admiral Mike Mullen, then America's top military officer, seeking to curtail Pakistan's military shortly after it was humiliated by the bin Laden killing.
Zardari reportedly feared that the military might seize power in a bid to limit the hugely damaging fallout in Pakistan after U.S. Navy SEALs killed bin Laden in the garrison city of Abbottabad, not far from Islamabad, on May 2.
At the time, according to widespread reports in Pakistan, politicians were keen to use the bin Laden debacle as a means to clip the all-powerful military's wings and strengthen weak civilian institutions.
Regarding the probe into the memo, Gilani's spokesman said "all concerned would be afforded sufficient and fair opportunity to present their views and the investigation shall be carried out fairly, objectively and without bias".
The White House said it was an "internal issue" for Pakistan while praising the ousted envoy.
"He's been a very close partner, of course, with the United States and we've appreciated the work we've done with him," Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes told reporters.
"But at the same time we're certain that we'll be able to work with whoever the next Pakistani ambassador is."
Confirming his departure, Haqqani wrote on his Twitter feed that he would remain involved in public life.
"I have much to contribute to building a new Pakistan free of bigotry & intolerance. Will focus energies on that," he said.
Interviewed by Britain's Independent newspaper, Haqqani added: "I have a vision for Pakistan which sees it as a future South Korea, not a future Burma (Myanmar).
"Similarly, I have a vision of U.S.-Pakistan relations which rest on mutual trust rather than constant game-playing," he was quoted as saying.
The alleged memo was revealed by U.S. businessman Mansoor Ijaz in an opinion piece in Britain's Financial Times on October 10.
Ijaz wrote that a "senior Pakistani diplomat" telephoned him in May soon after bin Laden's death, urging him to deliver a message from Zardari to the White House bypassing Pakistan's military and intelligence chiefs.
"The president feared a military takeover was imminent" and "needed an American fist on his army chief's desk to end any misguided notions of a coup -- and fast", he wrote.
He said a memo was delivered to Mullen on May 10, offering that a "new national security team" would end relations between Pakistani intelligence and Afghan militants.
The bin Laden raid brought to the boil U.S. suspicions that Pakistan's intelligence apparatus is in active connivance with the Taliban and other insurgents attacking U.S. troops in neighboring Afghanistan.
Earlier Tuesday, former ambassador Haqqani called for a "transparent inquiry" into memogate to help "strengthen the hands of elected leaders".
In a message to reporters, he said that "to me, Pakistan and Pakistan's democracy are far more important than any artificially created crisis over an insignificant memo written by a self-center businessman".
Source: Agence France Presse
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