Husain Haqqani was in direct contact with Zardari: Qureshi

Former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday said that Pakistan’s former ambassador to US Husain Haqqani never used to report to foreign office or even prime minister during the PPP rule, ARY News reported.

“Husain Haqqani never used to report to foreign office or anyone else, if I say that he even never reported to (then) prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, it won’t be incorrect, he enjoyed direct-dialing with president house,” Qureshi told ARY News’ anchor Arshad Sharif.

Qureshi remained Pakistan’s foreign minister as a PPP member from 2008to 2011, at the same time when PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari was president and Haqqani was Pakistan’s ambassador to US.

The memogate scandal revolves around a memorandum (addressed to Admiral Mike Mullen) seeking  US intervention alleging that the Pakistan Army intended to topple then PPP government in the aftermath of May 1, 2011 US raid in Abbottabad to kill Osama bin Laden., as well as assisting in a civilian takeover of the government and military apparatus.

The memo was delivered in May 2011; Mansoor Ijaz wrote a Financial Times article in October 2011 bringing initial public attention to the affair.

The memo, which at first was questioned to even exist, was published in November, leading to the resignation of then ambassador Husain Haqqani and Supreme Court investigation.

A larger bench of the Supreme Court in 2013 directed the federal government to have recourse to all legal and constitutional measures to bring back Hussain Haqqani to Pakistan.