Islamabad: Pakistani American businessman Mansoor Ijaz said Thursday that Husain Haqqani, Islamabad's former envoy to the US, had "directives" from Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on delivering a memo to Washington appealing for help in the wake of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's killing last year.
"It was my understanding that Haqqani had directives from the Pakistani President," the Geo News quoted Ijaz as saying while recording his testimony before a judicial commission from the Pakistani High Commision in London.
"Haqqani said (in the memo) that the civilian government needs to be strengthened against the 'bad boys'", Ijaz added.
The term "bad boys" refers to army chief (General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani) or ISI chief (Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha), said Ijaz.
The commission earlier instructed Ijaz to help Haqqani's counsel if he wanted to cross-examine him and that the forensic examination of evidence at the moment was premature.
The Supreme Court-appointed commission is probing Ijaz's claim to have last year delivered a secret memo to then US joint chiefs chairman Admiral Mike Mullen at the behest of Haqqani and the Pakistani government.
The memo said that Zardari feared a coup after Osama was killed last May by US commandos. The exposure of the memo triggered a scandal and cost Haqqani his job.
IANS
First Published: Thursday, February 23, 2012, 21:59