Kayani’s reply says Haqqani sent memo, DG ISI briefed him about it on October 24. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
ISLAMABAD: Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Wednesday said in his rejoinder to the Supreme Court that Husain Haqqani had sent a memo via Mansoor Ijaz, Express News reported.
Kayani’s reply also stated that Director General (DG) Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Ahmed Shuja Pasha briefed him about the memo on October 24.
Army chief’s reply further stated that he requested Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on November 13 to call Haqqani back for an inquiry and clarify their position.
The court’s nine-member bench had earlier asked the army chief and DG ISI to submit their response to replies submitted by Haqqani, Ijaz and the government.
Nawaz Sharif’s reply
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif in his rejoinder stated that since no one had denied the existence of the memo, an inquiry into this matter is necessary.
“It is a matter of public interest and the people of Pakistan should know who did what and why?” the reply stated.
Nawaz’s reply also said that the meeting between the DG ISI and Ijaz is also known to everyone now and even the conversation between them is public.
This reply to SC from Kiyani can practically implicate Haqqani who has been sitting out dry and merry so far. The case does get a bit murkier though. Here is a hope SC will follow this one through!
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How can he pronounce guilt so easily? An investigation carried out by an individual who is now being accused of plotting a coup is good enough for the General? How about Mansoor Ijazs accusations that do not involve Zardari? Those all lies?
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What happened to PM Gilani saying Govt and establishment are on the same Page?!
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@Shuaib: “What happened to PM Gilani saying Govt and establishment are on the same Page?!”
Same page, different verse.
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He himself is a party to the case. How can he say with so much authority that the other party, he is against whom, is the culprit?Recommend
@Acorn Guts: “This reply to SC from Kiyani can practically implicate Haqqani who has been sitting out dry and merry so far.”
Kayani’s opinioin does not implicate anyone.
The facts are well known:
1. Mansoor Ejaz sent an unsigned memo to Retired Gen Jones personal email address without encryption and without specifying that it was highly confidential.
2. The retired general forwarded it on to Mike Mullen who chose not to act on it. (Since the memo asked for Mike to contact General Kayani and state that removing civiliams would be unacceptable. If such a thing had occurred General Kayani would have known. The fact that until the Financial Times OpEd on October 10 , he was unaware proves that Mike Mulen did not act on the memo.
3. Mansoor Ijaz had some blackberry communication with HH It is these communications that General Pasha reviewed when he met Ejaz.
While these communications prove that a memo exists and was sent to General Jones. It does not prove that HH initiated reviewed or approved the memo. There is also no reference in the blackberry communication to either the word memo or to contents that are stated in the memo.
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High ranking Ambassador accused of soliciting help from the USA to prevent a military coup – the Ambassador ends up being accused of traitorous action by the military and ends up in Court with the Military testifying against him and being the sole source of “forensic evidence”. The rest of the World is wondering why Pakistani’s don’t understand that a military coup is the traitorous action and that soliciting help from outsiders to prevent a coup is a reasonable reaction. In a Democracy if you don’t like your govt then elect new guys – you don’t have the military throw out the baby with the bath water.
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Kiyani Sahib,
Stop dictating how and who should do what. You are a government employee and therefore, please stick to your job.
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@Nadir:
He is the current army chief who has been ISI chief during Mush’s dictatorial era. He has already given himself a juicy extention. He can say anything he wants or whenever he wants. Sad to say but in Pakistan generals are the masters. Recommend
Here few questions require probe.
1. Is COAS and DG ISI work under some authority or they work at their own?
2. Does Defence Ministry has any control over Army?
3. Is Supreme Court entitled to investigate such matters in the presence of Parliament etc.
4. With whose authroity or permission DG ISI met with Gulf country heads of states to have their assessment for replacement of President Zardari. Similarly who authorised DG ISI to meet Mansoor Ejaz and to gather evidents against President Zardari.
Above are pertinent questions which automatically lead why all this fuss has been created.
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It was army leadership who led the charge against Mr. Haqqani, what else did we expect Mr Kayani to say!
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Let’s not forget that a “Blackberry” sent out message to Mansoor Ijaz to draft a memo. He was instructed what to write and memo content was discussed / edited. Who was this person sending instructions to Mansoor Ijaz through his Blackberry? If that person does not come forward then it is very easy to identify to whom that Blackberry belong and those text messages were indeed sent out.
Research in Motion, RIM, who owns Blackberry, and has all text messages in its data base, can identify owner of the Blackberry and confirm date, time, location and authenticity of these messages. Once RIM identifies owner of that mysterious Blackberry then he may deny that he actually sent out those text messages. He may put blame on Blackberry that it malfunctioned and text all those message on its own ………..
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I believe the army statements more than govts statements. The govt is full of corruption!
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Gen Kayani is entitled to his opinion and blame anyone he thinks is guilty of. All he is doing is stating under oath is that in his personal opinion Haqqani wrote the memo. So at the end of the day a stage is set for the Supreme Court to decide which general is telling the truth Gen Kayani (Pak) or Gen Jones (USA). The affidavit of Gen Jones (based on media reports) has a ring of truth. He did not pressure any politician to his way. He was obligated to pass on the memo to Gen Mullen. The million dollar question is Can General Kayani handle the truth? Can he handle the truth (imagine scene from A few good men)? If Supreme Court sides with Gen Jones will he do the honourable thing and resign as Mr. Haqqani was asked to do so.
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It’s about time SC realized who is the daddy!
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Assalam-o-Allaikum Warahmatullah.
COAS and DG ISI are absolutely and precisely true and right in memogate issue.
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This is after Kayani heard Haqqani’s briefing to the President, PM and Army Chief, immediately after which the PM asked Haqqani to resign. Why was Haqqani made to resign if there was nothing wrong? Instead Haqqani should have stayed in position and defnded himself. Let us hope the best from SC.
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@Zubair Khan:
The Army & ISI are supposed to work under a constitutional mandate.
This mandate can’t be changed with the change of faces in the govt.
They still have the same duty, i.e, to safeguard the country’s security issues, in that, they may consider doing some investigation before bringing the actual things to limelight.
That is what they did.Recommend
@Cautious:
Extremely pertinent and truthful comments. Still exist few people who can think and argue logically.
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@The Only Normal Person Here.:
Agree!
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@Nadir: Great questions—-Right on!
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