Thaindian News

Islamabad, Nov 25 (IANS) The controversy over a secret memo to Washington would not end with Husain Haqqani’s resignation as the country’s envoy to US. In fact, it may be the “start of a scenario where the issue grows bigger and bigger”, said a Pakistani daily Friday.

Husain Haqqani quit Nov 22 after Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz last month alleged that a senior Pakistani diplomat asked for help in getting a message from President Asif Ali Zardari to then chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen.

Ijaz alleged that Zardari feared a military takeover following the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden in his hideout in Pakistan town of Abbottabad May 2.

The News International editorially said that Haqqani’s resignation “will not put an end to the Memogate saga. In fact, what we may be seeing is the start of a scenario where the issue grows bigger and bigger”.

Opposition leader Nawaz Sharif has placed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking a full inquiry into an affair that has rocked the country.

The editorial said this means that “we may yet hear new revelations as more facts are brought to light”.

“It is obvious that the people would like to know the whole truth.”

The editorial bluntly said: “Certainly, few have faith that anything very significant will emerge from the government’s own orders for a full examination of what happened and why. The prime minister’s orders to this effect have not sounded very convincing.”

It went on to say that there seems to be “some effort to pile dirt over the whole affair and bury it somewhere deep below the surface. (but) The PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz) petition might make this more difficult”.

Nawaz Sharif has pleaded in the petition that Zardari, Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, ISI chief General Shuja Pasha, Haqqani and Mansoor Ijaz be asked to appear before the court to explain the mystery behind the memo.

“The memo issue is one that should not be allowed to fade away. There are too many secrets in our political past and more should not be added to the list,” the daily said, adding: “Instead, we need a culture of greater transparency to deal with the doubts which cloud our political horizons.”