Haqqani quietly meets Zardari, set to face troika

Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani, who arrived here early on Sunday morning to face questions about his involvement in the ‘Memogate’ controversy, met President Asif Ali Zardari and told him he was not involved in any conspiracy against the state but was ready to face any enquiry and investigation. With Haqqani showing his readiness to face the enquiry into charges levelled against him, the president has decided to convene a troika meeting in a day or two in which the envoy will give his explanation to President Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and face their questions regarding the memo issue, Pakistan Today has learnt. Haqqani also offered his Blackberry to the president for inclusion in the investigation of the memo issue and said he had no fears and concerns as his hands were clean. “Ambassador Haqqani strongly denied all the allegations being levelled against him and told the president he was still ready to face any sort of enquiry to end the controversy over the alleged memo,” said a source at the Presidency. Soon after his return to Islamabad from Washington at around 2.30am, the ambassador said on micro-blogging website Twitter that he had returned home to answer questions about his alleged involvement in the memo scandal. Haqqani was moved to the Presidency amid tight security arrangements after being taken out of a back door to avoid the large contingent of reporters waiting for him. After his arrival, he had a few hours’ rest after which he held informal consultations with the president on the issue. Haqqani also met Special American Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman in Washington before leaving for Islamabad, who reportedly assured him of full support from the US administration. Mansoor Ijaz, a Pakistani-American businessman, had accused Haqqani of being the mastermind behind an alleged memo sent to the former US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen seeking help to prevent a possible coup by the Pakistani army in the wake of an American raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad on May 2. Haqqani has been denying these allegations and has also offered to resign in order to end the controversy.
This scandal has, however, not only brought Haqqani in the eye of the storm but has also exacerbated tensions between the civilian government and the army leadership. The Presidency kept silent over the meeting between the president and Haqqani on Sunday throughout the day but an official, seeking anonymity, said it was an informal meeting, which would be followed by the troika meeting in the next 48 hours.