Zardari, Haqqani wanted to create civil-military tensions: Ijaz

Key witness says he believes the president allowed US to raid OBL compound.

ISLAMABAD:

Key witness in the memo scandal, Mansoor Ijaz, told the judicial commission investigating the matter that it was President Asif Ali Zardari and former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani who were trying to create civil-military tensions, absolving himself of the charge.

He was responding to a question posed by Haqqani’s counsel Zahid Bukhari during the cross examination before a three judge commission tasked by the SC to probe the origin, authenticity and purpose of the memo.

Ijaz further said that President Zardari and Haqqani were trying to subjugate the army and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Haqqani was working for Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and allowed intelligence, National Security (NS) and defense officials to be present in Pakistan to protect US interests, Ijaz added.

The Pakistani-American businessmen added that “I believe that President Zardari had given permission to the US president to raid a compound where Osama Bin Laden was hiding –consequently, the army was embarrassed which further created a conflict between them”.

Regarding Ijaz’s email to ex-General James Jones who allegedly delivered the memo to the then Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mike Mullen, Bukhari said that Ijaz mentioned high-ranking officials in his email but had not mentioned them in his hand-written notes.

Ijaz replied in the positive but said that the notes could not be read in isolation, as when he spoke to Haqqani on the phone a few points of the memo were noted down on his note pad while the rest were typed on his computer, which formed the basis of memo.

Bukhari asked whether Haqqani authorised him in writing to deliver the memo during their first phone call.

Ijaz replied that he asked Haqqani why he himself could not convey the message and Haqqani replied that he was under observation by the ISI, while Ijaz was a plausibly deniable channel.

When told that he was under surveillance by different intelligence agencies around the world and was therefore never a plausibly deniable channel, Ijaz replied that he was never under surveillance.

If somebody in the Pakistani establishment found out that Haqqani sent the memo through him (Ijaz) nobody would have believed it because of his political stance against Pakistan, Ijaz added in his defence.

To a question, Ijaz said that he met Haqqani dozens of times and said he changed his view about Haqqani when he told him that he was leaving job and would reach out to his friends in which he was also included to explore his options.

Ijaz added that Haqqani asked him to tell his connections in the US that if they want their problems solved in Pakistan, he (Haqqani) was their man.

Bukhari concluded his cross examination and Ijaz was then cross-examined by Attorney General of Pakistan Maulvi Anwarul Haq.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2012.