Washington/Islamabad:
Amid a controversy around Pakistani diplomat Hussain Haqqani, news reports said he was seeking asylum in the US, but the envoy denied this and said he would return to his country shortly to explain his position on a secret memo purportedly sent by President Asif Ali Zardari to the Obama administration.
The Pakistan Ambassador to the United States strongly refuted news reports that he has sought asylum in the US after he tendered his resignation to Zardari a day earlier.
"I am a Pakistani, I will die a Pakistani," Haqqani told The Atlantic magazine when asked about the reports.
"I've lived in the United States so many years without seeking citizenship, and this is because I have a love for Pakistan," Haqqani said, adding that he has offered his resignation to Zardari but it has not been accepted yet.
The envoy has been at the centre of a controversy after media reports linked him to the secret memorandum and has been called by Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani to explain his position.
"I am coming to Pakistan on the orders of President Zardari. Even before returning, to give President Zardari adequate leverage, I have written to him that I do not need the job. I took up this work on the order of (slain former premier) Benazir Bhutto," Haqqani told a Pakistani television programme tonight.
"I will be reaching Pakistan in one or two days," he said.
Haqqani is still in Washington and continues to function as his country's top diplomat to the US.
"I have sought a role to play in the history of my country. I have not sought this as a job. I will continue to play this role, but I have offered my resignation as a way to defuse the current situation, in which a handful of journalists have blown out of all proportion an op-ed by a businessman," Haqqani told the Atlantic magazine.