Haqqani rebuts allegations through written statement

Pakistan’s former ambassador to the United States Hussain Haqqani has submitted a written statement along with various documents to the inquiry commission maintaining his position that he had no role in the conceiving, drafting or delivering of the alleged memorandum.
Countering different claims made by Mansoor Ijaz during his witness statement and his cross examination, Haqqani has picked out the contradictions in the statement of Ijaz to press home the point that Ijaz remains an unreliable witness and all the evidence that he has presented is cooked up. Haqqani has reminded the commission that during his own appearance before the commission, Ijaz had admitted that that no email, BBM or written word exists to show Haqqani’s link to memo.
The statement adds, “It was apparent… that around May 9-12, Ijaz created a trail of text and blackberry messenger exchanges that he could line up alongside contemporaneous telephone calls to falsely and maliciously implicate me in his own scheme and specifically to create evidence that I was involved in a memo that he drafted and gave to General James Jones for onward transmission to Admiral Mullen.”
Giving reasons for his contact with Ijaz on those fateful days Haqqani maintains that he engaged in good faith with Ijaz as part of his outreach to several people who were commenting in the US media on the US raid to kill Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad on May 2, 2011. Haqqani has maintained that he knew from the outset of the so-called “memogate” that he had not done anything wrong but had got worried after former ISI chief General Shuja Pasha’s statement that Ijaz had corroborative evidence that evidence may have been cooked up very expertly so he waited for the full evidence to come forward first and only then to rebut it.
Haqqani while reflecting on the post May 2 scenario said that after May 2, there was no fear of coup in Pakistan and that the real problem was Pakistanis were angered about US raid while world was angered about OBL presence in Pakistan and that he had the difficult task of defending Pakistan, army and ISI under those circumstances. Haqqani has maintained that despite his doing that in his official capacity, he continues to believe “in need to reform the ISI”.
The statement also vehemently denies that there was any meeting between President Asif Zardari and Ijaz in May 2009. Submitting the copy of president’s programme during his May 2009 visit to the US, Haqqani maintains that the programme does not mention any meeting with Ijaz.
He has dismissed Ijaz’s claim with the assertion that many Pakistani Americans drop in the hotel where Pakistani high dignitaries are staying for a hand shake or photo opportunity, but he can’t even recall such opportunity for Ijaz. Taking on the claims that Ijaz had a friendship with him, Haqqani has said that few meetings over a period of ten years or sporadic email exchanges did not make him a friend to Ijaz. Drawing on the statements given by Ijaz himself in the commission where he confirmed that former ambassador had more influence in Washington than him, Haqqani has taken a position that he did not need Ijaz for delivering any message to US administration and in fact there was never a need to communicate such a message.
Haqqani has also deliberated at length on his relationship with the armed forces of Pakistan. He maintains that he had worked closely as Ambassador of Pakistan with various organs of defense and intelligence set ups of Pakistan. “I have always fully supported the armed forces of Pakistan in fulfillment of their duties in accordance with Article 243 of the Constitution of Pakistan.”