Nexus between key Memo Gate player Mansoor Ijaz, Sharif-led PML-N?

Lahore, Jan 30(ANI): An article in a Pakistan daily has hinted at a nexus between Pakistani- American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, a key witness in the Memo Gate controversy and the Nawaz Sharif-led Pakistan Muslim League-N party.

It pointed out that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif's offer of security to Ijaz serves as a double edged weapon because it is keeping the memo issue alive when it appears to be on the verge of dying out, and has strengthened speculation of close ties between Ijaz and the PML-N.

The Daily Times article pointed out that PML-N leader Sartaj Aziz had defended Ijaz saying that he played a positive role during the PML-N government's previous tenure, when the Memo gate scandal came to light.

It noted that PML-N took the initiative in moving the Pakistan Supreme Court on the memo issue and added that Ijaz's articles also indicated that he had been positively inclined towards the PML-N rather than the PPP.

Ijaz had described Nawaz Sharif as a man holding the key to stability in the region in an article titled 'Toward a more constructive US role in South Asia', which was published in Christian Science Monitor.

Ijaz had alleged that creeping Islamisation had plagued the Pakistan Army in the same article.

"Pakistan's Army officer corps, once among the most professional and secular in the world, is now suffering from the creep of impoverished, less-educated Islamists into its senior ranks," Ijaz had written in the article published on 5 October 1999.

The article noted that his predictions were soon proved wrong, as only a week later the PML-N government was toppled in a military coup led by General Musharraf "raising serious questions about Ijaz's knowledge and understanding of Pakistan's politics."

"Contrary to Ijaz's assertion, the Pakistan Army that took power under General (r) Pervez Musharraf fought rather than siding with religious extremists," the article concluded. (ANI)