Memogate: 

Firewalk awaits frayed ambassador

Hussain Haqqani waved goodbye to Washington Saturday evening, possibly for the last time as Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States.

At the end of this potentially one-way flight, a firewalk awaits the embattled ambassador in Islamabad.

Summoned by the president and the prime minister over his alleged role in the ‘memogate’, Haqqani is scheduled to meet President Asif Ali Zardari today (Sunday).

Haqqani will explain his position on a memo, allegedly drafted by him for delivery, via a middleman, to former chairman US joint chiefs of staff Admiral Mike Mullen, asking for assistance to Pakistan’s civilian government to rein in the military establishment.

The letter was delivered on behalf of the Pakistani government by the self-declared interlocutor and a Pakistani-origin American businessman, Mansoor Ijaz.

Haqqani has persistently denied the charges and has offered to resign if it helps resolve the controversy.

But the controversy threatens to engulf not only the ambassador, but the civilian leadership itself. Ijaz has claimed that the memo was sent with the blessings of President Zardari.

Civilians to grill first

Haqqani, who boarded a Qatar Airways flight in Washington Saturday evening, is scheduled to arrive in Islamabad early Sunday morning, official sources said.

He would be taken to the Presidency right away, sources added.

“The president and the prime minister told General Kayani that they would first seek an explanation from Haqqani themselves,” a close associate of President Zardari told The Express Tribune.

The civilian leadership would then apprise the military authorities of the issue, he added.

“If [military authorities] remain unsatisfied, the civilian leadership will arrange Haqqani’s meeting with them,” the Pakistan Peoples Party leader said.

Hesitant Haqqani

Haqqani, who initially volunteered to appear before any authority in Pakistan to defend himself, was later ambivalent, and at one point even considered delaying his return to Pakistan, official sources toldThe Express Tribune.

He proceeded to return after receiving ‘assurances at the highest level,’ the source added.

The president’s spokesperson, Farhatullah Babar, when contacted to confirm Haqqani’s meeting with the president and its likely outcome, said he cannot say anything right now.

“Let him come … He is expected to reach here later in the night,” Babar said. “I would be in a position to tell the schedule once he arrives.”  An official in the Prime Minister House said the premier would be in Lahore on Sunday, for his son’s wedding, and is expected to meet Haqqani on Monday.

No treason charges yet

The government has no intentions of pursuing a treason case against Haqqani before giving him a chance to prove his innocence, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said while talking to journalists on Saturday.

“It is unjust to condemn someone without hearing them first,” Malik said.

“If Haqqani fails to satisfy the government with his explanation, the matter would be open for investigation,” he added.

Malik denied that Haqqani had drafted the infamous memo and added that President Zardari did not ask the ambassador for such communication either.

“It was a unilateral act of Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz,” Malik asserted.

Admitting that a record of conversation between Ijaz and Haqqani was found, Malik stressed that “it was yet to be determined who initiated the conversation.”

Haqqani meets Grossman

Haqqani, meanwhile, met with the US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman before departing for Islamabad.

A State Department official said the case of the memo was discussed in meeting. Grossman said he had never seen the memo until it was made public, the official added.

Earlier on Friday, State Department spokesperson Mark Toner told reporters that he was not going to engage in speculation.

“Our understanding is that [Haqqani] is still the ambassador of Pakistan to the United States, and we continue to have regular interactions with him,” Toner said.

PML-Q throws weight behind ally

Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain threw his weight behind his ally, the Pakistan Peoples Party, on Saturday and said the ‘memogate’ controversy was ‘baseless’ and an effort to destabilise the civilian government.

Speaking in Bahawalpur, Hussain said that President Zardari was not a child who needed intermediaries for correspondence with the US government.