Hussain Haqqani found guilty 'He was not Loyal to Pakistan': Memogate Commission

Islamabad: A Pakistani judicial commission has concluded that the country's former ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, was behind a mysterious memo that sought US help to stave off a feared coup and said he was "not loyal" to the country while serving as an envoy.

The Pakistan Supreme Court-appointed commission's findings were made public as a nine-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry began examining the panel's report this morning.

After the sealed report was presented to the bench, the Chief Justice asked Attorney General Irfan Qadir to read out its recommendations.
The report said Mr Haqqani was "not loyal" to Pakistan while serving as the envoy in the US and had sought to undermine the security of the country's nuclear assets, the armed forces, the Inter-Services Intelligence and the constitution.

The panel further concluded that the alleged memo was authentic and was drafted on Mr Haqqani's instructions.

It concluded that Mr Haqqani had sought US support through the memo and that he had wanted to head a new national security set-up.

The panel further said that Mr Haqqani had not accounted for USD two million spent from a secret fund of the Pakistani Embassy in Washington.

The court adjourned the matter for two weeks and directed Mr Haqqani to appear in person at the next hearing. It also issued notices to all parties involved in the case.

The bench directed authorities to make the judicial commissions report public.

Mr Haqqani, currently in the US, was forced to quit after Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz claimed last year that Mr Haqqani had asked him to pass on a memo, on behalf of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, to the American government calling for their help to oust Islamabad's military leadership. Both Mr Haqqani and Mr Zardari have rejected Mr Ijaz's claims.
Dismissing the memo commission's report, Pakistan's former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani today termed it as one sided.

In a statement issued in Washington, Mr Haqqani also claimed that the findings were made public to divert the attention from "more embarrassing developments".

"The commission's report has been released to distract attention from other more embarrassing developments.

"The entire proceeding reflected the political machination of ideological elements including the judiciary and had little to do with fact finding.

"The commission has based its findings on the claims of one man, a foreigner, and dubious records presented by him, which were reinforced by an equally dubious exercise termed as forensics," the statement reads.