No high treason against Haqqani

 The Lahore High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition seeking to take action under high treason charges against Hussain Haqqani, Pakistani ambassador to the US, allegedly involved in controversial memo scandal.
Helms Foundation through its counsel Advocate Safdar Shaheen Peerzada submitted that Mr Haqqani did not fulfill the requirements of being patriotic citizen of Pakistan. The counsel pleaded that Mr Haqqani allegedly wrote a confidential memorandum (letter) to former US military Chief Mike Mullen against Pakistan Army and Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and this was against the sovereignty country.
He stated the letter was written by Mr Haqqani on behalf of the federal government and it had damaged the image of Pakistan, Army and ISI in all over the world.
He said, later, Mr Haqqani handed over this later to Mansor Ijaz, a US based businessman, who forwarded it to Mr Mullen.
Advocate Peerzada submitted that the role and conduct of Mr Haqqani was doubtful in the whole episode. He further submitted the Mr Haqqani had issued visas to American spies like Raymond Devis for his personal interests and his act fall under the Article 6 of constitution.
He prayed the court to direct the federal government to produce the record of Blackberry (cell phone) and laptop used by Mansor Ijaz.
He further prayed the court to sought report from Mr Haqqani about the controversial letter and initiate proceeding against him under high treason charges.
After arguments, Justice Umer Ata Bandial observed ?Government is probing the matter still and Mr Haqqani is also explaining the issue before government.?
The Judge dismissed the petition saying that it will premature to initiate proceeding against anyone involved in the matter.

US quietly sought Pak help to stop Haqqani attack

 For years, US officials have pushed Pakistan?s military to attack the Haqqani network, or at least block its ability to cross the Afghan border, or at least cut off whatever financial and other support Pakistan?s spy service continues to provide to the insurgent group, reported The Washington Post.
All to little avail.
But it turns out that US officials have at times also tried another, more humble approach: simply asking Pakistani leaders to appeal to Haqqani to refrain from certain attacks.
Earlier, this month, Gen. John Allen, the US commander in Afghanistan, travelled to Rawalpindi to share intelligence with COAS Gen.Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. The intelligence indicated that the Haqqanis were planning a truck bomb attack on a US military installation in Afghanistan.
A US military official familiar with the Sept. 8 visit, which was first reported by The Guardian, said Allen asked Kayani to intervene not by disrupting the plot but by using his influence to dissuade Haqqani forces from carrying it out.
?We knew [an attack] was coming but we didn?t know where?, a US military official said. ?We didn?t know when, what trucks?, the Post said. Three days later, on Sept. 11, a truck bomb killed two Afghan civilians and wounded nearly 80 NATO soldiers at a military base in the Wardak province.
The official said the US military had drawn ?no conclusions? as to whether Kayani had tried to intervene. But Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Join Chiefs of Staff, told a Congressional panel that the Haqqani network was a ?veritable arm? of the Pakistani intelligence service?an assertion that other top US officials involved in the region are calling provocative and overstated.
The Sept. 8 meeting and request suggests a US idea to two realities: the Pakistan-Haqqani relationship may never be severed, and CIA drone strikes and US military raids aren?t enough to stop Haqqani attacks in Afghanistan.

US avoids specific comments on Haqqani

WASHINGTON - While the the US government refrained from make specific comments on the so-called ?memogate?, an article published by a US news service Tuesday accused Mansoor Ijaz, the Pakistani-American businessman at the centre of the scandal, of attempting to subvert Pakistan?s Ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani.
?Ijaz? behaviour suggests that he is either an epically erratic operator or someone who from the outset was attempting to subvert Haqqani,? wrote Jeffrey Goldberg, a Bloomberg View columnist and a national correspondent for the Atlantic.
Questioned on Monday about the affair, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nucland said, ?I don?t have anything to say on this specific issue. Our understanding is that Ambassador Haqqani is home on consultation. So I would refer you to the Pakistani government with regard to his consultations and what he is specifically up to.
?You know, we always expect that Pakistan?s leaders will act in accordance with Pakistan?s constitution and in a manner respectful of its democratic institutions. So beyond that, I don?t have any specific comments on this issue.?
In his article, columnist Goldberg also accused Pakistan?s ISI of attempting to subvert democracy ?as opposed to, say, winning wars against India, or helping the U.S. defeat the Haqqani terrorist network in Afghanistan?.
Goldberg wrote, ?Haqqani (no relation to the Haqqanis of terrorism fame) has long been known as a pro-democracy activist and a critic of the army?s meddling in Pakistan?s civilian affairs. As a scholar (he was a professor at Boston University before taking his current post), he wrote the definitive book on the Pakistani military?s unholy alliance with jihadists, ?Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military.?
About Mansoor Ijaz, the article said, he ?keeps turning up in the most unlikely places. In the 1990s, he has said, he was involved in discussions in which the Sudanese government offered to deliver Osama bin Laden to justice, a claim denied by Clinton administration officials. In 2006, he suggested that he knew of evidence that Iran had already produced a nuclear weapon.
?But the ISI apparently sees him as very credible. And they found in his op-ed a chance to move against Haqqani. The spy agency quickly fomented an anti-Haqqani campaign among the more pliant of Pakistan?s newspapers (the ISI is also known to keep journalists directly on its payroll), and Zardari was forced to recall Haqqani to Islamabad. Haqqani denies drafting the memo, and has already offered to resign, in order to protect Pakistan?s civilian president.?
Goldberg said that during his recent e-mail exchanges with Haqqani, the Pakistani envoy ?raised some obvious questions about Ijaz and his motivations. Ijaz says he is a critic of the ISI and claims to be opposed to military rule in Pakistan. Yet, according to reports in the Pakistani press, he recently met with General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the head of the ISI, and turned over his BlackBerry...
?It?s not at all clear how this scandal will end, but if it results in Haqqani?s removal as ambassador, it would be a minor tragedy for an already tragic country. Military rule has brought Pakistan nothing but violence, stagnation and political repression.?