Washington: Amid a controversy over a secret memo sent to the then US military chief to prevent a possible military coup in Pakistan, the spokesperson of Admiral Mike Mullen said that the former top general never met the Pak-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz and does not know him.
Asserting that the Admiral did not take the alleged secret memorandum seriously as it was "not signed", there was no indication that it was coming from the Pakistan President and said, the contents of the said letter were not reliable and authenticated.
"I am not going to speak to Gen (James) Jones (former National Security Advisor) participation in it and if he is speaking that is certainly his account. I have said this before and am saying again today. Nothing about that letter had the imprimatur on the Pakistani Government.
It was not signed. And the contents of it Admiral Mullen did not find credible. So he took no action on it," Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt John Kirby, told reporters during an off camera gaggle.
"He (Mullen) knew who the third party was who was giving it (this memo) to him. He does not know Mr Ijaz. He never communicated with Mr Ijaz. He did not know that Ijaz was the author of this alleged memo.
He simply got the memo from a third party, read it and decided to do nothing with it because he did not find it at all credible," Kirby said.
Kirby as the Press Secretary of Admiral Mullen when the latter was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, from where he retired a few months ago.
Pakistani-American businessman Ijaz has claimed that he drafted the memo on Haqqani's instructions and delivered it through an intermediary to Mullen.
Asserting that the Admiral did not take the alleged secret memorandum seriously as it was "not signed", there was no indication that it was coming from the Pakistan President and said, the contents of the said letter were not reliable and authenticated.
"I am not going to speak to Gen (James) Jones (former National Security Advisor) participation in it and if he is speaking that is certainly his account. I have said this before and am saying again today. Nothing about that letter had the imprimatur on the Pakistani Government.
"He (Mullen) knew who the third party was who was giving it (this memo) to him. He does not know Mr Ijaz. He never communicated with Mr Ijaz. He did not know that Ijaz was the author of this alleged memo.
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Kirby as the Press Secretary of Admiral Mullen when the latter was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, from where he retired a few months ago.
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