What made Mansoor Ijaz go public with his role as interlocutor in the piece that he wrote for the Financial Times?
KARACHI: This is with reference to Shahzad Chaudhry’s article of November 21 titled “The case of the crooked missive”. I am surprised that after all the debate and discussion on the matter, one of the main questions remains unanswered: what made Mansoor Ijaz go public with his role as interlocutor in the piece that he wrote for the Financial Times?
What forced his hand? Was it just a matter of ego that he wanted to be recognised as a real player in the game between America and Pakistan? Obviously, he was all over in the media, defending his actions and his credibility in the process, when Ambassador Haqqani, the Foreign Office, some elements in the Pakistani media tried to discredit his allegations. Did Haqqani try to use him as a frontman for plausible deniability, and then when he (Haqqani) did not deliver, whatever may have been agreed upon, Ijaz came out in public? Is it really possible that the ambassador was operating without any direction from Pakistan? Another question that needs to be answered is that why would Ijaz offer his version of the facts to none other than the director-general of the ISI?
A reader
Published in The Express Tribune, November 22nd, 2011.
