'Patriotic' Haqqani to challenge 'one-sided' memo verdict aimed at distracting people

Islamabad, June 12 (ANI): Reacting to the Memogate Commission report, which found the former ambassador to the United States guilty, Husain Haqqani has tweeted his response on the micro-blogging website Twitter, saying that the commission's proceedings were one-sided.

"One-sided proceedings of Commission that refused to hear me will be challenged by my lawyers," The Express Tribune quoted Haqqani as tweeting.

"Commission is not a court and those claiming it has determined guilt or innocence are wrong," he said, adding that the report aimed to "distract" people's attention from other issues.

"Memo Commission report is bring used to distract attention from other embarrassing issues. Its claims are political, not legal," he further tweeted.

He also said no one had the right to judge his patriotism.

"Those who endorsed military dictators and allowed them 2 amend constitution cannot judge my or anyone else's patriotism," he further said.

The Commission report probing into the Memogate scandal claimed that Haqqani had authored the confidential memo. It further informed the court that the memo was not a farce, but a reality, and that the motive of the memo was to assure the U.S. that the civilian government of Pakistan is its ally.

The scandal had started when Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz claimed last year of having received a message from Haqqani to deliver a confidential memo to Admiral Mike Mullen, regarding a possible military takeover in Pakistan.

The apex court has now ordered Haqqani to come back to Pakistan, and has also sought a reply from Haqqani regarding the commission's report.

The memo had contained a request to convey a "strong, urgent and direct message to Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani" that communicates Washington's demand for him and the former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief General (retd) Shuja Pasha to "end their brinkmanship aimed at bringing down the civilian apparatus". (ANI)