‘Haqqani exchanged text messages with US national’

Ambassador Hussain Haqqani did not write a letter seeking US help against the Pakistan Army, Interior Affairs Minister Rehman Malik said on Saturday.
However, the ambassador was involved in communication via text message with an American national, he said. Ambassador Haqqani, who has denied reports of his involvement, has now been called to Islamabad by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to explain himself.
Rehman said that there was no written letter, but President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani had decided to call Ambassador Haqqani to explain the situation. “This was not a letter, neither from presidency nor from any government organisation,” he said.
“This is communication through SMS (text messages) by two individuals. One is an American national and second is our ambassador,” he said. The evidence available was an exchange of SMS messages and Blackberry messages. “Now we have to see that who initiated these,” he said.
“And if his (Haqqani’s) point of view was not satisfactory then it is clear that it is open for investigation,” the interior minister said, adding that it was not according to the justice to condemn someone without hearing him. The government officials confirmed that Ambassador Haqqani was on his way to Islamabad.
On the other hand, former National Security adviser Mahmud Ali Durrani denied information pertaining to him in Mansoor Ijaz memo. “I was not aware of the memo, nor was consulted when it was written,” he said. He said that the information about him in the memo was absurd.
Ijaz alleges that Durrani’s name was included in the list for the new National Security team being prepared with the full backing of the civilian government.