Islamabad:
Pakistani-American Businessman Mansoor Ijaz, who plays a starring role in Pakistan's political scandal Memogate, has delayed his trip home. He was scheduled to testify in Pakistan's Supreme Court today. Mr Ijaz's lawyers say he is being threatened. He has applied for a visa in Switzerland. He will not be in Pakistan before January 25.
It was Mr Ijaz who went public late last year with the information that in the days after Osama bin Laden was killed, he was asked to deliver a memo in Washington asking for help against a military takeover in Pakistan. Mr Ijaz claims that the memo was written with the knowledge of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, who has denied the charge.
The memo triggered a winter of hostility between Pakistan's civilian government, headed by Mr Zardari, and the country's powerful army. Both of Pakistani Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and ISI chief Shuja Pasha have said that if the government did indeed commission the memo, it was an unconstitutional act.
Amid speculation about a coup or early elections, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has criticized the army for acting like "a state within a state" and the ruling coalition has asked opposition parties to support moves that would protect democracy over dictatorship.
The government, however, faces another possible strike in the Supreme Court, which has expressed its displeasure over the failure to reopen graft cases against Mr Zaradari and other influential Pakistanis. Those cases were dropped against the National Reconciliation Ordinance which provided amnesty to those charged. The court declared that amnesty invalid in 2009.
It was Mr Ijaz who went public late last year with the information that in the days after Osama bin Laden was killed, he was asked to deliver a memo in Washington asking for help against a military takeover in Pakistan. Mr Ijaz claims that the memo was written with the knowledge of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, who has denied the charge.
The memo triggered a winter of hostility between Pakistan's civilian government, headed by Mr Zardari, and the country's powerful army. Both of Pakistani Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and ISI chief Shuja Pasha have said that if the government did indeed commission the memo, it was an unconstitutional act.
Amid speculation about a coup or early elections, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has criticized the army for acting like "a state within a state" and the ruling coalition has asked opposition parties to support moves that would protect democracy over dictatorship.
The government, however, faces another possible strike in the Supreme Court, which has expressed its displeasure over the failure to reopen graft cases against Mr Zaradari and other influential Pakistanis. Those cases were dropped against the National Reconciliation Ordinance which provided amnesty to those charged. The court declared that amnesty invalid in 2009.
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