Pakistan: Former ambassador to US could face treason charges
Pakistan’s former ambassador to United States Husain Haqqani (C) gestures as he leaves The High Court Building in Islamabad on January 9, 2012, after recording his statement before the judicial commission probing a secret memo scandal in which Haqqani allegedly approached the US authorities to prevent a possible coup d’ etat by the powerful military after the secret US raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan on May 2, 2011. Haqqani, who was forced to resign last month, denied any involvement but the court has already put restrictions on him leaving Pakistan. AFP PHOTO/AAMIR QURESHI (Photo credit should read AAMIR QURESHI/AFP/Getty Images)
A judicial investigation in Pakistan concluded on Tuesday that the former ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, wrote a controversial memo seeking US help in the even of a military coup, the BBC reported.
The inquiry's report said it had been "incontrovertibly established" that the memo to the US military was authentic and written by Haqqani, said the BBC.
After five months of hearings, the commission's findings were submitted to the Pakistani Supreme Court, said The New York Times.
The court ordered Haqqani, who is currently teaching at Boston University in the US, to return to Pakistan.
The three-member judicial panel handling the case found that Haqqani was "not loyal" to Pakistan, according to The Washington Post.
According to legal experts, Haqqani could face treason charges in what has become known as the "Memogate" scandal.
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Haqqani was a close aide to President Asif Ali Zardari, and the commission's findings could reignite tensions between Pakistan's civilian and military leadership. Haqqani, who resigned when the scandal broke, denied writing the memo, according to the Associated Press.
On Twitter, Haqqani said, "One-sided proceedings of Commission that refused to hear me will be challenged by my lawyers," according to The Post.
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Independent observers have also concluded that the probe was politicized, said the AP.
The memo scandal centers around a controversial memo, allegedly written by Haqqani, which asked for US help in preventing a military coup in Pakistan in the aftermath of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden and angered the Pakistani military, according to the AP.
Mansoor Ijaz, a US businessman of Pakistani origin, said Haqqani was the author of the memo which was sent to Adm. Mike Mullen, then the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to the BBC.
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