The treasonous memo!

By Shaheen Sehbai & Mohammad Malick

ISLAMABAD/DUBAI: From a smoking gun to a smouldering fuse, the mysterious memo earned many sobriquets even before its precise contents were known to anyone but a handful of highly secretive power players involved in its drafting and communication. The (in)famous, rather possibly game-changing, Mike Mullen memo, ironically contains six mutinous articles and is now being revealed after Admiral Mike Mullen also confirmed its existence and 'remembered' having received it at the height of the OBL crisis.

After days of huddles between the troika and other major power players of the country resulted in a resignation offer by President Zardari's closest foreign and domestic policy adviser and Ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, the memo has acquired the importance of a political nuclear bomb.

The memo was sent to Mike Mullen through mutually trusted contacts by US businessman Mansoor Ijaz, who claimed doing so at the behest of an unnamed senior Pakistani diplomat, who has now been identified as none other than Mr. Husain Haqani. The memo is said to have been approved by the President of Pakistan.

Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani reportedly endorsed and seemed convinced with the evidence that Mansoor Ijaz has provided to the army and took this up in his latest one-on-one meeting with the president. Sources say without offering many options, the president was 'asked' by Gen. Kayani to immediately summon Haqqani for further enquiries.

The President, who earlier through his spokesman had simply shrugged off the whole affair while rubbishing Mansoor's claims, readily obliged and Haqqani was summoned to Islamabad. So far however, the ambassador is still staying put in Washington on the officially offered explanation that he is finishing up prescheduled diplomatic commitments.

Besides the Memo, the electronic correspondence between the diplomat and Mansoor Ijaz has also become available in full and is a graphic account of dates, time lines, words, and even emoticons, which are normally used by youthful SMS users. Part of this conversation was recently released by Mansoor Ijaz to the media in his almost 3,700 word long statement. All communications between Haqqani and Mansoor have now been transcribed from the cell phones and made available to The News.

The Memo has reached The News from more than one source, both within Pakistan and from abroad, and is nothing short of being offensively repulsive, offering an alarming insight into a power-corrupt mindset willing to compromise national interest for petty personal power gains. It is, arguably, a document crafted by soul-less conspirators who clearly have no shame and dignity, no national pride or respect.

The originator, writer, approver and the ultimate beneficiary of the Memo all look like vicious anti-state collaborators and traitors hiding under the garb of national leaders and proving themselves to be decision-makers occupying positions they never deserved and should never have been allowed to occupy in the first instance. All that has come in bits and pieces in the media so far are simply peanuts as compared to the 929 words of the Confidential Memo, which has been obtained and confirmed to be authentic by The News.

Couched as a "Briefing for Admiral Mike Mullen," each word has a deep meaning and each sentence carries an offer, a plan, an incentive to demolish national security apparatus of Pakistan, play havoc with its nuclear assets, allow American boots on Pakistani soil and help and abet the US in accusing and proving the Pakistani armed forces and intelligence agencies guilty of "complicity" in the Osama bin Laden affair, his secret stay in Pakistan and his mission.

To top it all and make such an investigation into a foolproof nutcracker, the memo also invites US authorities to hand pick the investigators panel. Aping Camp-Justice style justice, the memo also assures its recipient that the investigation process, "will result in immediate termination of active service officers". In other words, byebye to a recalcitrant Kayani, adios to a hardnosed Pasha?

The memo brazenly accuses the Pakistan Army leadership of "brinkmanship aimed at bringing down the civilian apparatus in Pakistan" and calls the time it was written in May 2011 as "a 1971 moment in Pakistan's history" when the armed forces had been defeated in East Pakistan and civilians led by ZA Bhutto had gained the upper hand over the military.

And what do the drafters of this treasonous memo have in mind for changing the security paradigm of Pakistan? In lieu of prolonging their own stay in power, the authors of the memo promised the US administration to replace the, "National security adviser and other national security officials with trusted advisers that include ex-military and civilian leaders favourably viewed by Washington". Talk of being his master's voice.

The Memo talks of creating a "new national security team" which promises to give "carte blanche" or a blank cheque to the Americans to carry out Osama-type military raids inside Pakistan and any operation on Pakistani soil. Could there be a greater violation of national sovereignty? One wonders. Clearly the authors of the memo did not give two hoots about at least two unanimous resolutions of the national parliament, which categorically forbade any violation of Pakistan's sovereignty by a third country and any action by it against Pakistani citizens inside Pakistan.

Not only this but the memo also promises that the US would be given the "green signal" to not only track down people on Pakistani soil but also to kill them if so needed. The memo stands in clear defiance of the binding resolutions adopted by the Constitutionally elected parliament.

In a criminally dangerous development, the memo presents as an equivocal fact that the top al-Qaeda leadership is based inside Pakistan when the authors promise to hand over the likes of Ayman Al Zawahiri, Mulla Omar etc. This angle alone would have qualified Pakistan to be declared a rogue terrorist state but try telling that to a duo with vaulting ambitions who appear to have no qualms of destroying the state in order to perpetuate their stay in office and continue with loot and plunder.

As an icing on the cake, the authors of the memo also promised to bring Pakistan's nuclear assets under a "more verifiable, transparent regime.. For those in the know, this translates into retooling the entire setup and providing unrestricted access to Pakistan's nuclear assets to United States, something that has long figured high on the US wish list. This offered concession also fits in neatly with the framework softly being pushed through the slower and circuitous Cooperative Threat Reduction regime (CTR) That the move to place our nuclear assets at the mercy of the US and its 'friends' has direct security consequences for Pakistan vis-‡-vis India, among other serious concerns, is clearly no priority for the authors. And understandably so because their only concern was to stay in power no matter how. Let the country pay the price of their avarice.

What political repercussions this memo will have on the power politics of Pakistan is too early to predict but what has been established is that the military establishment is not happy at all with what was going on and the Opposition will jump on the government with a relentless campaign to bring the culprits to book. Will the President stick to his guns and refuse to abandon his man in Washington? Or will he move with ruthless efficiency and speed to sever any possible incriminating link? Will the expected sacking of the envoy signal the end of the crisis or mark the beginning of the next and possibly fateful phase?

The political landscape is waiting for some more aftershocks, it appears. What is certain however is that the heat from the smouldering fuse is being felt by the keg.