Only Haqqani can clear mystery regarding memo: Ahmed Mukhtar

Mukhtar says that if Haqqani is involved in the scandal, then the prime minister will also be held accountable.

LAHORE: Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar on Sunday called Mansoor Ijaz a conspirator and said that only Ambassador Husain Haqqani can clear the mystery regarding the memo controversy.

Addressing a press conference in Lahore, Mukhtar said it will take some time to determine who drafted the secret memo allegedly delivered to former US military chief Adm Mike Mullen.

Mukhtar also said that if Haqqani is involved in the scandal, then the prime minister will also be held accountable. He added, however, that the prime minister cannot dismiss Haqqani from office without asking for an explanation.

He also said that action will surely be taken if Haqqani does not come clean, however, nothing can be said before he explains his position.

Mukhtar also vowed that all details will be brought before the public, as soon as details unfurl.

In the wake of the leaked memo controversy, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Friday told members of the National Assembly that Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani has been summoned to Islamabad to provide an explanation to the country’s leadership.

A memo was published online by foreign news papers, which alleged fears of a military coup in Pakistan and the army’s complicity in the Osama bin Laden raid. The memo was allegedly delivered to US Adm Mike Mullen by a Pakistani American businessman Mansoor Ijaz at the behest of Ambassador Haqqani in the week after the Bin Laden raid.

Haqqani, who has served as Pakistan’s representative to the US since 2008, denied that he had either drafted or delivered any memo. Referring to Mansoor Ijaz indirectly, the Ambassador said, “There are many businessmen in this world who claim to have a role in a country’s affairs, but they are not given importance. In Pakistan, however, one man’s claims create a crisis.”

Mullen on Thursday dropped a bombshell when he issued a statement confirming the existence of the document.