Pakistan’s former envoy to the United States, Husain Haqqani, is no stranger to intrigue. But even he did not anticipate finding himself effectively imprisoned amid a scandal involving a shady memo, a businessman with unclear motives and allegations of treason.
He is caught up in a tense standoff between Pakistan’s civilian leaders and its generals over a memo that accused the army of plotting a coup after the US raid in Abbottabad that killed Osama bin Laden last May. Now fearing for his life, he has taken refuge in the opulent hilltop home of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in Islamabad.
The scandal broke three months ago when businessman Mansoor Ijaz, writing in a column in the Financial Times, said a senior Pakistani diplomat had asked that the memo be delivered to the US Defence Department for help in reining in the military. Ijaz later identified the diplomat as Haqqani, who was never liked by the military for his strong advocacy of civilian supremacy. No evidence has emerged that the military was plotting a coup and the Pentagon at the time dismissed the memo as not credible.
Haqqani returned to Pakistan in November and resigned as ambassador in a bid to end the crisis. He denies that he had anything to do with the memo and says he is fighting the traditional foes of civilian government in Pakistan. “Since the 1980s, there are powerful interests within the permanent state apparatus as well as outside who want to control the definition of what it means to be a Pakistani patriot,” Haqqani told Reuters on Friday at the prime minister’s residence. He avoided naming the powerful Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), but it was clear he considers parts of the military spy agency responsible for his troubles in a scandal that the media has dubbed “memogate”. Pakistan’s Supreme Court set up a judicial commission last week to investigate the memo, keeping Haqqani nervous.
He has some allies still in Washington. Senators Mark Kirk, John McCain and Joe Lieberman issued a joint statement on Thursday decrying his treatment. “We are increasingly troubled by Ambassador Haqqani’s treatment since he returned home to Pakistan, including the travel ban imposed on him,” the senators said. “We urge Pakistani authorities to resolve this matter swiftly and consistent with civilian rule of law and to prevent the judicial commission investigating Ambassador Haqqani from becoming a political tool for revenge.”
“I’m not a prisoner, I’m a guest. But for all practical purposes, I can’t go out, because what if someone shoots me like they did Salman Taseer?” he said.
Haqqani’s former lawyer doubts justice would prevail in any legal proceedings against him. And merely associating with the man who once enjoyed Pakistan’s premier diplomatic post is seen as risky. “I want to meet my client either in my space, my office, or the court, or somewhere I feel is relatively bug-free,” said Asma Jahangir, when she still represented him.
