Islamabad: A Pakistani parliamentarian has
demanded that ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha should resign
following the claims that he travelled to Arab countries to
discuss a move to oust President Asif Ali Zardari.
Bushra Gohar, a senior leader of the secular Awami
National Party, noted that former envoy to the US, Husain
Haqqani, had resigned after being implicated in the memogate
scandal by Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz.
Similarly, the ISI chief should quit after Ijaz`s remarks
that he met some Arab leaders in May to discuss a possible
military coup in Pakistan, she said.
Raising a point of order in the National Assembly or lower
house of Parliament yesterday, Gohar said: "When one
ambassador was summoned and asked to resign, then the Director
General of the ISI should also be asked to resign".
She said if everyone was accepting Ijaz`s statement on the
alleged memo, then it should be assumed that he was speaking
the truth about the ISI chief too.
She said the main opposition had approached the Supreme
Court for a probe on the basis of Ijaz`s allegations while it
was saying that his remarks about a possible coup were a lie.
Gohar was referring to a speech by Leader of Opposition,
Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan of the PML-N, who said he believed
Ijaz`s statement about the ISI chief was wrong.
She said the ISI chief should resign and face an inquiry
based on the allegations that he had met some Arab leaders to
discuss a possible military coup.
After hearing Gohar, the Leader of Opposition conceded her
point but said it was up to the government to seek Pasha`s
resignation.
The government should authenticate Ijaz`s allegations and
take "necessary steps", he said.
He further said he had sought the ISI chief`s resignation
during an in-camera joint session of parliament that was held
after the US military raid that killed Osama bin Laden on May
2.
A recent blog on The Independent newspaper`s website
quoted Ijaz as having said: "Their (US intelligence)
information was that Pasha had travelled to a few Arab
countries to talk about what the necessary line of action
would be in the event that they had to remove Zardari from
power, and so forth".
Pakistan`s political and diplomatic circles were rocked
after Ijaz made public the alleged secret memo that sought US
help to prevent a military takeover after the killing of bin
Laden in May.
PTI
