Former Pakistani ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani on Monday submitted a written reply to the commission probing into the Abbottabad operation, which also interviewed former federal minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, National Defence University President Lieutenant General Agha Umar Farooq and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-Sherpao Chairman Aftab Sherpao.
But it was Awami Muslim League (AML) Chairman Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, who came up with documentary proof to level serious allegations against Haqqani and Pakistani High Commissioner to the UK Wajid Shamsul Hassan putting all blame on them. The commission had summoned Haqqani to submit his statement about the alleged visas issued to suspected American servicemen. The commission summoned Haqqani to appear today (Tuesday). Justice (r) Javed Iqbal, head of the commission, had already announced to finalise the findings of the commission by end of the month. Talking to journalists at the apex court building, Rashid alleged that the memo controversy had nothing to do with illness of President Asif Ali Zardari and it was related to national sovereignty.
He said that the memo controversy had actually started after empowering Haqqani to issue visas to Americans. The former federal minister alleged that Haqqani had issued 15,000 visas to Americans out of which 4,000 visas were issued to technocrats and officials. The AML chairman said that Raymond Davis was also among those officials who were issued visa by Haqqani.
He alleged that Haqqani, Wajid and people acting on their whims were involved in the May 2 raid. Rashid said that he believed that it was not possible for the US to conduct a raid on May 2 without the Pakistani government’s complicity. In his written statement, the former federal minister claimed that the May 2 operation could not have taken place without very extensive intelligence and logistical support to the US by its agents and operatives inside Pakistan.
“The presence of a large number of such agents and operatives was actively facilitated by the federal government through unprecedented relaxations granted to US personnel in grant of visas for travel to Pakistan,” he said, adding that a directive issued on July 14, 2010 by former principal secretary to the PM, Nargis Sethi, was attached with his statement to the commission.
The AML chairman alleged that under a directive by the foreign secretary on July 14, 2010 and its subsequent confirmation by the Ministry of Interior on July 16, 2010, Haqqani was empowered to issue visas without security clearance by any of the authorities concerned in Pakistan. “As a result of this extraordinary empowerment of the ambassador in Washington, around 400 visas were issued during the third week of July 2010. This included visas issued over the weekend. The total number of visas issued between July 2010 and September 2011 by the embassy in Washington is approximately 15,000,” he asserted.
In this context it may also be noted that High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hassan has stated in at least two interviews in the public domain that the federal government was aware of the operation on May 2 in advance. It is, therefore, critical that Wajid be examined by this commission,” the statement said.
He also drew attention of the commission to the reported role of two retired personnel, Lieutenant Colonel (r) Iqbal and Major (r) Amir. “It is reported that the lieutenant colonel has left the country after selling all his property. This is a highly sensitive matter,” Rashid said. He also stressed upon the need for probing what Haqqani was doing in London on May 2. “The undersigned has also come to know that during his stay in London, Haqqani held extensive meetings with senior officials of the armed forces of the UK. The timing of these meetings and the authorisation and agenda of these meetings may help in uncovering the conspiracy leading to the events of May 2,” he stated.
