Truth must out

Memogate exposes a royal mess within

The unsigned confidential memo delivered to top American military leader Admiral Mike Mullen allegedly at the behest of President Zardari on May 10 (seeking US help to avert a possible army takeover) underlines the inherent distrust between Pakistan’s civil and military leadership and the inevitable US factor in the country’s politics. The memo promises a carte blanche for the US Administration to pursue its goals in Pakistan in return for intervention in aid of civilian control of Pakistan’s security establishment. Simple sum of this complex equation: we are willing to compromise on territorial sovereignty if you help us protect ourselves from the defenders of this territory!

The alleged author of the memo, Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, Mr Hussain Haqqani, who has denied any link with it, was compelled to resign on Tuesday to clear way for a detailed probe. He did so after meeting with the troika amid mounting pressure and ‘evidence’ of his supposed involvement gathered by ISI chief Gen Shuja Pasha.

Aptly titled ‘Memogate’, the controversy has been marked by denials, ambiguity, blame-game, hysteria and conspiracy theories – typical ingredients of any scandal in Pakistan and the deafening din it creates. The contents of the memo are undoubtedly shocking but what is more distressing is dumbing of truth in the din of political rhetoric of the past week and an apparent resignation to the fact that truth will never be known.

The government simply tried to sweep the matter under the carpet at first. When that didn’t work, it used the foreign office to deny it. The presidency stepped in to rubbish the issue when it refused to die down. Finally, when the existence of the memo and its receipt were confirmed by Mike Mullen’s spokesman, the go-between Mansoor Ijaz disclosed it was conceived by Ambassador Haqqani. All hell let loose with his claim and indication that the ambassador had the go-ahead from his ‘Big Boss’.

The explosive contents of the memo were leaked and splashed all over the media with spin doctors at both ends doing their job. Pressure from the army, parliamentarians and media eventually forced government to summon the man in the line of fire – Ambassador Haqqani, who refuted all allegations point blank. Dismissing Mr Ijaz’s claims, Mr Haqqani was quick to point to his controversial past and lack of credibility. Haqqani’s assertion on Ijaz is shared by even Haqqani’s detractors. Others have however recalled Haqqani’s controversial past too, including his readiness to switch political loyalties to further his personal ambitions.

Embarrassing as it may be for Pakistan, if allegations of its ostensible author and clearance from the real author’s ‘Boss’ are proven, it would expose the duplicity of the present government. That it granted extensions to the army and the ISI chiefs at home and sought US help to tame them behind the scene. If true, it only points to innate weakness of successive governments in Pakistan that invariably turn to foreign powers particularly the US for support in internal affairs.

Critics of the memo call it a serious breach of national security or even treasonable but cynics insist that the contents of the memo are long-known symptoms of the Pakistani political malaise. It exposes the underlying tension between the so-called democratic forces and the army or the civil-military divide and reflects the tendency to sacrifice national interest and patriotism at the altar of political exigencies and self-preservation.

Perhaps, the truth lies somewhere in between. While a credible inquiry is in order it is important that it is transparent and its findings be made public. That it is not hijacked by powers that be in the name of national security. It must not become another exercise in futility to buy time to let another explosive issue push this one on the back burner.

The concern of the truth never surfacing is not ill-placed given a pattern of inquiry commissions in the past on matters of national security. The nation is still in the dark about the truth about Dr A Q Khan’s unceremonious ouster, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, Raymond Davis’s pardon, journalist Saleem Shahzad’s murder and Osama Bin Laden’s presence and assassination in the garrison town of Abbottabad.

Signed or unsigned, ‘secret memos’ are a self-defeating exercise. Such clever-by-half devices are by no means a solution to our internal problems. It is in Pakistan’s best interest to narrow down the civil-military divide and not to aggravate it.

The assumption should always be that even the communication marked as ‘Confidential’, ‘Secret’ or ‘Classified’ is vulnerable to leaks. If anything WikiLeaks is evidence of the fact that, sooner or later, it all comes out. For those holding public offices and in position of authority it is better to play it straight and clean from the outset than be devious and face humiliation later. Intrigues, deceit and double-crossing may bring momentary gains but end in shame and utter disgrace. History is replete with such examples.

The writer is a senior journalist and has been a diplomatic correspondent for leading dailies. She was an Alfred Friendly Press Fellow at The Chicago Tribune in the US and a Press Fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge, UK. She can be reached at [email protected]