Memogate: No threat of military coup after May 2 raid, says Pasha

ISLAMABAD: Former Director-General Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Ahmed Shuja Pasha told the Memogate commission that there was no planning for a coup as such after the May 2 US Seals raid to hunt down al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. He said the ISI would have known if there was any threat of coup. The commission probing the Memogate scandal resumed its hearing, headed by Justice Faiz Esa at the Islamabad High Court. The central player in the scandal Mansoor Ijaz had said in his testimony that after the Abbottabad incident, former ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani had approached him, citing fears that the military in Pakistan was moving for a coup over the democratically elected government. To confirm what Haqqani had told him, Ijaz had said that he had used his contacts with the intelligence agencies of different countries to verify this information. On Thursday, while speaking before the commission, Pasha said only the military leadership was consulted about Ijaz’s article in the Financial Times. He also said that he did not know Ijaz before meeting him. Ijaz’s counsel Akram Shaikh while cross-examining Chairman Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Yasin Malik, asked him if Malik was an Indian national and held an Indian passport. The commission directed Bukhari to only question Malik about the allegations made by Ijaz and ask “relevant questions.” Shaikh said that Malik had met Indian external intelligence agency The Research and Analysis Wing’s (RAW) officials for which he had video records, which he will produce before the commission whenever it asks. Malik, while snubbing the allegation said that he had never met any officials from any agencies and that he will undergo any penalty if proven wrong. Former ISI chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha was also present before the commission to get his statements recorded. The commission expressed dissatisfaction over former ambassador to United States Husain Haqqani’s appeal to adjourn the hearing. Justice Esa told Haqqani’s counsel Zahid Bukhari that if his client was not well then he should not have taken up such an important duty [of an envoy]. He further said that earlier Haqqani had undertaken that he will appear before the commission within four days whenever he is summoned. (The Nation)