February 23, 2012

Mansoor Ijaz, an American businessman, was allowed to give his evidence by videolink from London on Wednesday after he said his safety could not be guaranteed in Pakistan.

He claims he was asked to deliver a memo to American military officers asking for their support in removing the head of the army and the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency in May last year.

Mr Ijaz told a commission investigating the case that he wrote the explosive memo from notes dictated over the telephone by Husain Haqqani, the then Pakistani ambassador to Washington.

He was told that President Asif Ali Zardari himself was behind the plan, he added.

Mr Ijaz said Islamabad was prepared to allow access to Osama bin Laden's three wives, help in tracking down Mullah Omar and Ayman al-Zawahiri, leaders of the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaeda respectively, and to disband the ISI's notorious S Wing – believed to retain links to militant groups.

"He (Haqqani) further offered that Pakistan would agree on an additional discipline as regard to the nuclear programme," said Mr Ijaz.

Mr Haqqani resigned in November last year after being recalled from Washington as the scandal threatened to undermine Pakistan's crisis-riddled civilian leadership. He has denied the claims.

The memo was delivered to Admiral Mike Mullen, then the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, days after the May 2 raid to kill Osama bin Laden.

Pakistan's generals were deeply embarrassed by revelations that the world's most wanted man was hiding in plain sight, in a military town barely 30 miles from Islamabad. They also apparently failed to detect the US helicopters as they penetrated deep inside Pakistan.

Their humiliation prompted many to believe the government could use the episode to rein in the reach of a military which has seized power three times since independence and remains a force behind the throne.

Details of the memo emerged in October and, combined with a chronic economic crisis and a second legal challenge, triggered a stand-off between military and civilian leaders.

Mr Ijaz's testimony is expected to continue for several days.


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