American businessman of Pakistani origin, Mansoor Ijaz has come out with new claims regarding the controversial memo, saying the plan to send the memo was made by President Asif Ali Zardari. In a telephonic interview with a TV channel, Ijaz claimed that Zardari had given complete authority to former ambassador to US, Husain Haqqani to handle the memo. The man at the centre of the controversy in Pakistan went a step further claiming that both President Zardari and former Ambassador Haqqani had prior information about the US raid in Abbottabad to eliminate Osama Bin Laden.
White House denies: However, in a late night statement, the White House denied that President Zardari and Haqqani knew in advance about the raid, saying the operation was too sensitive to be shared with Pakistan.
Ijaz also accepted his involvement in back-channel diplomacy, particularly between the governments of Pakistan and India on Kashmir and nuclear proliferation. He claimed this in his article due to be published on December 5 in a US magazine. Ijaz has also provided an analysis about the recent infamous memo controversy in his article and said Haqqani had tried other interlocutors to deliver the memo to Admiral Mike Mullen and had been refused.
Mansoor Ijaz now says Zardari planned memo
