Pakistan US ambassador offers to resign over 'memogate'

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Source: BBC

The Pakistani ambassador to the US has offered to resign after being accused of playing a role in seeking US help against his country's powerful army.

Husain Haqqani was alleged by a US-based lobbyist to have compiled a memo seeking US help to avert a military takeover in Pakistan.

Mr Haqqani has denied any role in drafting or delivering such a memo.

However former US Joint Chiefs Chairman Michael Mullen has confirmed that he received a secret memo.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15782297

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1. Pakistan's US envoy offers to quit over 'Memogate'

Source: The Independent

Pakistan's ambassador to the United States has offered to resign after becoming embroiled in allegations relating to a purported attempt by the country's President to seek Washington's help in fighting off a possible military coup.

Husain Haqqani said he proffered his position after reports suggested he had acted as an envoy for President Asif Ali Zardari, who allegedly wanted to send a message to the Pentagon that he was prepared to replace Pakistan’s military leadership if the US came to his government’s support. Mr Haqqani denied he had carried such a request. He has now been called back to Islamabad while an investigation is carried out.

The swirling controversy that has become known as “Memogate”, started after a Pakistani businessmen last month published an article in a newspaper in which he claimed he had been approached earlier this year by a “senior Pakistani diplomat” and asked to pass on a message to the then Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen.

The businessman, Mansoor Ijaz, claimed that in the days following the US raid on Abbottabad that killed Osama Bin Laden, Mr Zardari was concerned the Pakistani military, headed by General Ashfaq Kayani, may be tempted to seize control and he wanted Washington’s help in preventing such a move. In exchange, claimed Mr Ijaz, Mr Zardari was prepared to change the military leadership, end ties with militants and improve relations with Afghanistan. The businessman said the carefully drafted memo was subsequently passed on to Mr Mullen.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/pakistans-us-envoy-offers-to-quit-over-memogate-6263991.html

[No Elephants]

2. So, will they put Mullen in jail naked, too?