ISI chief Pasha sought Arab approval to oust Zardari
In a claim that is all but guaranteed to send further shock waves ripping through Pakistans corridors of power, British newspaper The Independent said in an article published on Wednesday that the evidence offered by Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, a central figure in the memogate controversy, in support of his allegations also revealed a second clandestine, rival plot to remove President Asif Ali Zardari from office.
The article quotes a section of the Blackberry Messenger (BBM) conversation where Ijaz informs the recipient on the other end he claims that it was Pakistans former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani - that senior Arab leaders had given the green light for Zardari to be evicted from the Presidency, merely hours after the memo highlighting the presidents own plight with the
Pakistani military was delivered to Admiral Mike Mullen, seeking help from the US to rein in an army furious at the May 2 US raid that killed Osama bin Laden. I was just informed by senior US intel that GD-SII Mr P asked for, and received permission, from senior Arab leaders a few days ago to sack Z. For what its worth, Ijaz writes in a message on May 10 according to The Independent. In his hasty typing, where he manages to turn DG-ISI into an anagram, Ijaz was saying that top American spooks have told him that Lieut. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha secured a green light from Gulf potentates to overthrow the government, says the article.
Ijaz told the newspaper in a phone interview from London a few days ago that when the memo was being written, he wanted to independently verify whether the Zardari government was really in trouble.
One of the things I had done, he explained, was to make sure that a senior person that I know in US intelligence would have had the opportunity to review what was about to sent over. This, he said, was why Leon Panetta came to know of the memo, hinting at a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) link.
Ijaz told The Independent that he felt the measure was necessary to make sure that there was nothing we were doing that was against US interests. The well-placed source got back to him about a day later. And the person told me that their information was that Pasha had traveled to a few of the Arab countries to talk about what would be necessary to do in the event they had to remove Zardari from power and so forth, Ijaz was quoted as saying.
When The Independent asked him if he found the information credible, a slightly exasperated Ijaz replied: Of course I thought it was credible. I wouldnt have repeated it if I didnt. When I say, a senior intel source, I mean senior.
Based on this credible information from his source, Ijaz claimed he had confirmation that there was a real threat there at some point.
The question of whether the shadow of a coup ever fell on the early days of May lies at the very root of Memogate and remains unresolved. Ijaz has claimed that coup jitters spurred Haqqani into action. Indeed, all claims in this regard emanate from Ijaz. They appeared in his column on the pink pages of the FT (Financial Times) and in the memo that he dispatched. Haqqani, by contrast, denies there was ever talk of a fourth phase of Pakistani military rule. The army and the ISI, at least on this occasion, wont disagree with the former ambassador, said the article.
The article goes on to say that the need for a coup never arose because before the memo even reached Admiral Mullen, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had already declared his support for the military and spy agency in no uncertain terms.
Gilani also did not call for the independent enquiry floated in the memo, handing the responsibility instead to the armys adjutant general, and told The Independent a day later that the government, the army and the ISI were all on the same page.
The article states that the only person claiming that Lt General Pasha was indeed touring Arab capitals to muster support for a coup is Ijaz, and like other claims and accusations he made in the memogate controversy, this one also rests on his questionable credibility.
âPasha sought Arab approval to oust Zardariâ | Pakistan Today | Latest news, Breaking news, Pakistan News, World news, business, sport and multimedia
In a claim that is all but guaranteed to send further shock waves ripping through Pakistans corridors of power, British newspaper The Independent said in an article published on Wednesday that the evidence offered by Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, a central figure in the memogate controversy, in support of his allegations also revealed a second clandestine, rival plot to remove President Asif Ali Zardari from office.
The article quotes a section of the Blackberry Messenger (BBM) conversation where Ijaz informs the recipient on the other end he claims that it was Pakistans former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani - that senior Arab leaders had given the green light for Zardari to be evicted from the Presidency, merely hours after the memo highlighting the presidents own plight with the
Pakistani military was delivered to Admiral Mike Mullen, seeking help from the US to rein in an army furious at the May 2 US raid that killed Osama bin Laden. I was just informed by senior US intel that GD-SII Mr P asked for, and received permission, from senior Arab leaders a few days ago to sack Z. For what its worth, Ijaz writes in a message on May 10 according to The Independent. In his hasty typing, where he manages to turn DG-ISI into an anagram, Ijaz was saying that top American spooks have told him that Lieut. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha secured a green light from Gulf potentates to overthrow the government, says the article.
Ijaz told the newspaper in a phone interview from London a few days ago that when the memo was being written, he wanted to independently verify whether the Zardari government was really in trouble.
One of the things I had done, he explained, was to make sure that a senior person that I know in US intelligence would have had the opportunity to review what was about to sent over. This, he said, was why Leon Panetta came to know of the memo, hinting at a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) link.
Ijaz told The Independent that he felt the measure was necessary to make sure that there was nothing we were doing that was against US interests. The well-placed source got back to him about a day later. And the person told me that their information was that Pasha had traveled to a few of the Arab countries to talk about what would be necessary to do in the event they had to remove Zardari from power and so forth, Ijaz was quoted as saying.
When The Independent asked him if he found the information credible, a slightly exasperated Ijaz replied: Of course I thought it was credible. I wouldnt have repeated it if I didnt. When I say, a senior intel source, I mean senior.
Based on this credible information from his source, Ijaz claimed he had confirmation that there was a real threat there at some point.
The question of whether the shadow of a coup ever fell on the early days of May lies at the very root of Memogate and remains unresolved. Ijaz has claimed that coup jitters spurred Haqqani into action. Indeed, all claims in this regard emanate from Ijaz. They appeared in his column on the pink pages of the FT (Financial Times) and in the memo that he dispatched. Haqqani, by contrast, denies there was ever talk of a fourth phase of Pakistani military rule. The army and the ISI, at least on this occasion, wont disagree with the former ambassador, said the article.
The article goes on to say that the need for a coup never arose because before the memo even reached Admiral Mullen, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had already declared his support for the military and spy agency in no uncertain terms.
Gilani also did not call for the independent enquiry floated in the memo, handing the responsibility instead to the armys adjutant general, and told The Independent a day later that the government, the army and the ISI were all on the same page.
The article states that the only person claiming that Lt General Pasha was indeed touring Arab capitals to muster support for a coup is Ijaz, and like other claims and accusations he made in the memogate controversy, this one also rests on his questionable credibility.
âPasha sought Arab approval to oust Zardariâ | Pakistan Today | Latest news, Breaking news, Pakistan News, World news, business, sport and multimedia
