Memogate hot air balloon pricked

By Kamran Rehmat/Islamabad

Memogate architect: Mansoor Ijaz has held Pakistan captive with his claims but failing to show up as prime witness has reinforced doubts about his credibility

It is widely suspected that the so-called memo that Mansoor Ijaz, a US millionaire businessman, claimed Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s former ambassador in Washington, dictated for him to hand over to the Americans would eventually peter out.Strictly speaking, we haven’t quite reached the climax in this soap opera of rare inanity being staged in Pakistan on the apparent premise of treason but it appears to be losing steam and may be even hurtling to some sort of closure. The Supreme Court and a parliamentary commission are simultaneously probing the affair but the focus is on the former, which is the centre of gravity, given its perceived hostility towards the sitting government.For the last two months, Pakistan has been consumed by that funny piece of paper - purporting the civilian government led by the ruling Pakistan People’s Party to have sought American intervention to avert a possible coup by an embarrassed military in the aftermath of a US Navy SEALS operation that eliminated Osama bin Laden not very far from a military compound in Abbottabad last year.The theory is that a strong call — preferably, from Admiral Mike Mullen, the-then US chairman joint chiefs of staff, to General Ashfaq Kayani, the Pakistani army chief, - has nipped the idea of a coup.The eagerness of the opponents to nail the government prompted Ayaz Amir, a member of parliament, to famously describe it as a case proceeded not on the basis of “rape occurred” but “rape intended”. Small wonder much of the international reaction has bordered on disbelief at the mischief of forces inimical to the incumbent government. One may hold no brief for the ruling party, which carries a strong perception of being arguably, one of the most inept governments Pakistan has had. But it is a democratic dispensation nevertheless - not a motley crew of quislings hatched and festooned by a military dictator to lend a civilian facade to his illegitimate rule. It is this little grain of democratic enterprise that is worth keeping in mind lest people are sucked into going along with a self-proclaimed saviour - as has been the case in the past - since it is considered par for the course given the usual unpalatable present. All those midstream “messiahs” - there being no shortage of willing partners for a moppet show - should have by now discovered the demerits of riding on the back of someone like Mansoor Ijaz to upset the applecart of an elected government. There’s a strong perception that the Haqqani case is being used as a ruse to oust President Asif Zardari, PPP co-chairman - using the theory that the former ambassador would have got his cue from him. It beggars belief to imagine any other country even remotely entertaining a man of Ijaz’s proven dubious credentials at the height of existential threats - reinforced by a US-led Nato attack last November which killed two dozen Pakistani troops - only to settle scores premised in bloated egos. Following the first half-hearted denial made in Islamabad about the so-called memo in response to Ijaz’s article in British broadsheet The Financial Times, it had become obvious that here was a man desperately seeking to go down in history as someone who sank a government. He certainly succeeded in pitting the security establishment against the government - a neater design would have been difficult to conceive. That the government and the superior judiciary were - and continue to remain - at loggerheads played into this contrived drama, outlined with dividends for those trying to bring down the PPP government. However, the most disappointing role in this farce has been played by Nawaz Sharif, former prime minister and chief of the main opposition party, PML-N. Ever since returning from exile to again lead his party in late 2007, Sharif had shown admirable understanding and patience despite unceasing taunts of having been reduced to a “friendly opposition” - in the interest of guarding the fort of democracy against late night adventurers. However, with the days of Senate elections drawing near, the PML-N chief let frustration get the better of his judgment in trying to stop the PPP juggernaut at the behest of the security establishment. Of such stuff is irony made of. The general perception is that having been bitten by the same establishment twice, he would have learnt his lessons.Prominent lawyer Asma Jahangir made a telling statement to this end, when she decided to step aside as former ambassador Haqqani’s counsel after the apex court assented to the maintainability of a petition surrounding alleged treason against the former ambassador. Without naming Sharif but leaving little to imagination as to the object of her ire, she warned that such actions would return to haunt those political forces seeking to hitch a ride on the back of the court. It hasn’t taken too long for the PML-N chief to realise the consequences of a decidedly harmful endeavour, which is why he has since fallen back on his earlier studied endeavour of preventing the undesired third force - a euphemism for the military - using the situation to its advantage. With Mansoor Ijaz - the prime witness in the Memogate saga - refusing to come to Pakistan as promised, chances are the case might collapse on its weight. It is manifest in how his counsel Akram Sheikh has reacted to the development, which makes for amusing reading.Apart from making silly suggestions in how his client fears being killed by Interior Minister Rehman Malik of PPP, he has blamed Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif for “losing interest in the case”. Akram Sheikh had, in fact, written directly to the army chief to provide security to his client - an absurd proposition. The apparently down-and-out PPP government has clawed its way back in the face of tremendous odds. It has squarely faced the hostility of the security establishment, judiciary, opposition and sections of the media - all at once - but still lived to tell the tale. With Mansoor Ijaz backing out of a commitment to come to Pakistan as prime witness, the apex court was forced to let the former ambassador it had restrained from leaving the country to fly out last month. The court also gave its own probe commission another two months to finish the job, prompting speculation that it was all over the bar shouting.

*** The writer is a freelance journalist based in Islamabad and can be reached at kaamyabi@gmail.com