Pak-American businessman Ijaz submits statement on memogate scandal case in Pak SC

Islamabad, Dec 15(ANI): Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, who is at the center of the Mullen memogate scandal, today submitted his statement to the Supreme Court.

Nine petitions, along with one filed by Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif, on memogate are being heard in the apex court.

The petitions had made President Asif Ali Zardari, Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha and former Pakistan Ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani party to the case.

According to the Dawn, in his statement, Ijaz not only confirmed his meeting with Pasha in London on October 22, but also gave details of the meeting.

The memo was made public last month by Ijaz, who claimed to have received it from Haqqani and, following his instructions, passed it to former US military chief Admiral Mike Mullen through an intermediary.

He claimed that Haqqani assured him that Zardari had approved the memo.

The Pakistani government initially denied the existence of the memo, as did Mullen's spokesman. But later the spokesman said Mullen had received it, but considered it unreliable and ignored it.

The memo accuses Kayani of plotting to bring down the government in the aftermath of the Osama bin Laden raid, which most Pakistanis considered a humiliating violation of their sovereignty by the US.

It asks Mullen for his "direct intervention" with Kayani to prevent a coup.

In return, it promises help in installing a "new security team" in Islamabad that would be friendly to Washington. It also mentions policies likely to please the Obama administration, but certain to enrage the army, which sets foreign policy and views itself as the sole protector of the country's sovereignty.

The memo promises the government will allow the US to propose names of officials to investigate how bin Laden was able to live undetected in the country, facilitate American attempts to target militants like Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri and Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Omar, and allow the US greater oversight of Pakistan's nuclear weapons. (ANI)