By IANS,
London: Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz has said that the US government assured him of its support during his forthcoming visit to the country. He said he has been receiving threats from Pakistani officials on a daily basis.
Ijaz claimed to have delivered a secret memo to the then US chief of staff Admiral Mike Mullen in May last year at the behest of then envoy to the US Husain Haqqani and the Pakistani government to avert a likely military coup.
Ijaz said he offered Haqqani to stop “telling lies” about him and he would stop telling “the truth” about the former envoy, but he “did not stop”.
“I had a conference call with the US State Department a couple of days ago. The US government will provide the support that they always do for US citizens,” Ijaz said in an exclusive interview with Geo TV in London.
“They (the US government) made their official position very clear and I made my reasons for going very clear. They understand it’s a high profile case and they understand I am a reasonably high-profile American citizen,” he added.
“And I think if, god forbid, anything goes wrong they will certainly be there to help my family make sure that things got sorted out. I am absolutely confident that the American government will do the right thing if something went wrong,” he said without elaborating what could possibly go wrong.
Ijaz has been summoned by a judicial commission in Islamabad Jan 24, which was set by the Supreme Court, after petitions on the issue were moved by the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leaders and others.
He was issued a one-year multiple-entry visa by the Pakistan high commission Thursday evening. Ijaz said he would travel to Islamabad but would not reveal his travel plans.
Ijaz appeared distrusting of the Pakistani government claims about his security. “Part of the problem is that you have government officials that are threatening me on a daily basis and I find that a little bit strange that from one corner of their mouth they are saying that I’m secure and at the same time they are threatening me too,” he said.
He said it was not just his personal protection that worried him but rather he was more concerned about the security of his family and business.
“I have to make sure that all of these things are attended to. I can’t just get up and recklessly go and do whatever I want to do,” he said, adding that he did not want to “put an overburden on the system in terms of my personal security while I’m there”.
Ijaz explained he was a family man with a lot of personal, business and social commitments and wanted to make sure that “certain things had been addressed” to give everyone “peace of mind” when he travelled to Pakistan.
Ijaz praised the memo commission for addressing his concerns. He also appreciated the Pakistan Army, which he said had agreed to “do certain things that they have not agreed to do for anybody else and I very much appreciate that”.
“Now all of this has been dealt with, I’m ready to go in fact I want to get it over and done with,” Ijaz said. “I am very much looking forward to going to Pakistan and getting this whole thing behind us.”
“There is an absolute need to make sure that the truth is told. Absolute need to make sure that what was done by the officers of your (Pakistani) government in those days,” he said.
He alleged that Haqqani was “famous for having a selected memory” and promised that he would clarify the record on that as well. “I said this to Haqqani back in October/November (that) stop telling lies about me and I will stop telling the truth about you (but) they kept on telling the lies and I will keep on telling the truth”.
Responding to another question as to what prompted him to spill the beans, Ijaz said it was the Pakistani government’s attempts to cover up that made it a big issue and compelled him to take a stand what he believed was right.