Memorandum to Explode!
Posted on 17. Nov, 2011 by Farooq Hameed Khan in Hot Topics
Is the ‘memorandum’ bomb about to explode and shatter the initiators?
By Brig Farooq Hameed Khan(Retd)
Zardari and Mullen caught on the wrong foot
The Zardari- Mullen- Obama memo controversy continues to emit dense smoke as the fire below seems to rage with greater fury. Mansoor Ijaz’s most recent revelations of the transcripts of communication exchanges (Black Berry messages/tel calls) indicate that the memo was undoubtedly formulated and edited with help of a senior Pakistani diplomat/ official and approved allegedly by the ‘highest political authority in Pakistan’. Admiral Mike Mullen received the memo on May10 around 1400 hours from a source “whom he (Mullen) trusted and who (the source) also trusted Mansoor Ijaz”.
In his lengthy rejoinders reported in the ‘The News’ on October 31 and November 11, Mansoor Ijaz repeatedly threatened to reveal the ‘highly sensitive content’ of the memo stating, “the facts I have are irrefutable, the evidence is crystal clear.” But what may give sleepless nights to other ‘memo’ actors was Mansoor’s remark that “offers made were very much congruent with American objectives in the region”.
The memo’s hair raising contents already revealed in Mansoor Ijaz’s explosive October 10 article in UK’s Financial Times are enough to make matters difficult for Mr Zardari who ‘needed an American fist on his Army Chief’s desk to end any misguided notions of a coup – and fast’ after the Abbottabad debacle.
The quid pro quo as reported included dismantling the ‘S’( counter terrorism) Wing of ISI and bringing in a new security team (implying removal of COAS/DGISI) that would end ISI’s relations with the Haqqani network and Taliban. The very thought of a President who is also the Supreme Commander of Armed forces, acting against his own national security interests is unbelievable and frightening, too.
The pieces can be put together. While the country including its security establishment struggled to cope with the psychological impact of the May 02 Abbottabad strike, was our top leadership trying to covertly strike a deal with those who had blatantly violated Pakistan’s sovereignty? Was the bogey of a military coup being raised to consolidate and secure their own power agenda?
The American fist came down real hard on Pakistan’s security institutions which clearly went on the defensive. Pakistanis were
Haqqani and Mansoor at the center of controversy
shocked by the venomous propaganda unleashed by the American / British media through wave of articles and reports against the Army/ ISI. Themes like the Army/ ISI being incapable of safeguarding the nuclear and strategic assets, the danger of their takeover by Islamists within the Army and possibility of a ‘Colonels’ coup’ suddenly became the talk of the foreign media.
Strangely enough, no one from the American administration has denied the memo’s existence. When asked to comment on this matter during her recent Islamabad visit, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was evasive and termed it as a matter between two Presidents.
Even Mike Mullen’s spokesman commented in a roundabout manner. He stated, “I cannot say definitively that the correspondence did not come from him (Mansoor Ijaz ).” Mansoor claims he had proof that Mike Mullen acknowledged the receipt of the memo from their common friend.
I was present in Imran Khan’s historic Minar –e- Pakistan public meeting, when he bowled that unbeatable in- swinger to President Zardari about the secret SOS to President Obama. Imran emphatically mentioned our Washington Ambassador Hussain Haqqani as that ‘senior Pakistani diplomat’ who was instrumental in coordinating the memo affair.
Haqqani’s immediate denial failed to make an impact since his credibility rating was obviously no way near that of Imran Khan. In reply to Kamran Khan’s blunt question live on GEO TV few days later, whether the ‘ senior diplomat’ was indeed Hussain Haqqani, the wily Mansoor Ijaz declined to comment. Why would Mansoor not give a clean chit to Haqqani?
Will Mansoor Ijaz’s offer of a deal apparently directed towards Mr Zardari and co. to “stop telling lies about me and I might just stop telling the truth about you”, really work? Is the Presidency desperate to prevent further memo leaks? Islamabad would probably go to any extreme even if it meant striking a deal with Mansoor Ijaz or pleading to their American friends to ask this US citizen to exercise restraint. But is it too late for damage control? Denials by the Foreign Office as well as the Presidency that tried to discredit and tarnish Mansoor Ijaz’s credibility may have caused the latter’s stinging response.
Mansoor Ijaz had earlier expressed his willingness to provide on request, all details in closed door briefings to the ‘official bodies/organs of Pakistan government’ conducting an investigation and even the Supreme Court, to present the truth, which in his words, ‘will not be easy for anyone to swallow’. Should Mansoor Ijaz be summoned by the Parliamentary Committee on Defence/national security? Is this not a perfect Suo Moto Case for Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry?
Mansoor Ijaz’s sensational disclosures in Sana Buchan’s November 13 ‘Lekin’ talk show on GEO, that a Pakistani Government representative had verified the available data and forensic evidence on the subject, should ring alarm bills on Islamabad hill. Is the memo already in safe custody of some state organ in Pakistan?
For our security/intelligence setups, this is too grave a matter to be brushed aside. The concerned agencies must be carrying out their independent investigation. Is the security establishment’s intriguing silence over this issue a portent of an approaching storm?
Pakistanis anxiously await the details of other promises made in the memo as well as confirmation of the identity of that ‘senior diplomat’. The repercussion may be unimaginable, should these ‘commitments’ relate negatively to our nuclear program or the armed forces or other vital interests are deemed to be compromised.
The memo issue not only has serious implications for our national security but the moral dimension is even significant. Mr Zardari or the ‘senior diplomat’ would be discharging their national obligation by presenting the truth, before the memo hits the media, a dreadful scenario that may just be round the corner.
With fingers pointing towards our Ambassador in Washington, he has reportedly been summoned to Islamabad to explain his position. Will he be made the scapegoat? Does Mansoor Ijaz still control the timing of the memo’s release? Is the ‘memo’ bomb about to explode?
a WordPress rating system
5 Responses to “Memorandum to Explode!”
Leave a Reply
Join Us
 |
| Subscribe to Opinion Maker |
| Email: |
Author Profile
Brig Farooq Hameed Khan
Javed Nizam
17. Nov, 2011
Type your comment here…When in national polity and statecraft, accountability takes the back seat or shunned in totality, the national intrests are compromised for petty selfish gains, this is,unfortunately ,happening in Pakistan since early 50s after the stranglehold of the mighty,resultantly now every one is sale able.God save this country from vultures be it on any side of the governance.Javed Nizam
Mansoor Malik
17. Nov, 2011
Type your comment here…It is very painstaking when such sensitive national issues are discussed in the open media instead of the relevent Parliamentary Committee taking charge and inviting all the major players to its chambers to establish facts from fiction. Time to grow up and put democratic norms to address all the cloak and dagger machinations.
abubaqar
18. Nov, 2011
pakistan is dealing with the most vilest evil humans on the face of the earth from the western world, who are themselves stooges of the zionist jews in tel aviv!
what can you hope from those human devils who talk with forked tongues as the red indians used to describe them???
i sincerely hope that those with the security of the country in they hands use the appropriate means to ensure the welfare of the country even if it means putting zardari in prison for the rest of his life and his cohorts.
can anyone tell me where to send some bangles (womanly) for zardari to wear in pakistan? the bastard that he is and his evil son!
how can we muslims be in this position except from these pathetic evildoers who are willing to have murdered they own countrymen and women from kaffirs in the west!
do these evil bastards of the western world let you shitheads from muslim countrys do these actions in they countrys? even though they bereak the international law flagrantly and visibly. if you idiots wish to be slaves thats your choice, but the muslim masses do not i am sure—- so give our children hope for the future!
Fate
18. Nov, 2011
Abubagar,
Might wish to moderate your views of West/Westreners, as you type your comments on computers invented by the West's Christians and Jews, sent on the Internet invented by Christians and Jews, not to mention airplanes, electricity, modern electronics, modern medicine etc ALL invented by Christians and Jews.
Perhaps consider being a bit more grateful and charitable.
With respect to vile behaviour, consider how well Muslim Pakistanis are treated in the West, compared to how poorly Pakistanis living in Saudi Arabia are treated by Bedouin Saudis, who until the arriva of the West in the 1930s lived in desert tents with camels, unchanged from 2000 years ago.
Christians and Jews are absoutely fidel to God.
The proof is look at how God has rewarded us.
Think for a moment – how coud a loving God support peope like the Taliban who spray acid on women's faces.
Peace.
abubaqar
18. Nov, 2011
mr fate, my views expressed so far have been very moderate indeed!
in the interdependence of life we easterners gave you westerners ideas about civilization, we had huge cities while you were putting up a few stones called stonehenge and called it a work of art?
we muslims in spain taught you hygiene, literacy,medicine, and welfare of of the human entity and what did you do?? you wiped out every jew and muslim because you were civilized???
your kind went all over the world and did the most evil to all who were not western europeans, are you denying your history?
in the history of mankind there is no other race as evil as the western europeans even after all the scientific progress and civilzation!
all the other benefits you mention were all here in the world before your kind in different forms, today we stand at the threshhold of humanity being utterly destroyed by your kind.
your kind poison the air,water,food,land, even medicine and yet you have the gall to call it progress for mankind!!!!
as long as you follow the devil and not god mr fate, you are a danger evident to mankind clearly perceived.