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Editorial: The News
The memo shock
Finally, the Mike Mullen memo is out in the open and forms another twist in a saga that refuses to die. The memo indeed makes for grim reading and is bound to lead to further tensions in the normally fraught civil-military relationship in the country. If there is any truth in the memo having come from an official source, an allegation strenuously denied by Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani and the government, it is bound to have serious repercussions and raise many questions. But what stands confirmed by events outside Pakistan is that the memo was very much a reality and the government, the foreign office, the presidency and the embassy of Pakistan in Washington had been trying to obfuscate matters for many weeks in feeble attempts to somehow brush the whole matter under the carpet. The final nail in all these coffins was thumped by Admiral Mike Mullen himself who retracted his earlier denial of the memo and confirmed its receipt by going down his memory lane and asking a colleague who brought him a copy. What he did with it is irrelevant but what is important is that he did receive it. The probe, reportedly ordered by President Zardari after meeting General Kayani, has now a new and simple job to complete — to identify and punish the culprits. The charge has been established, the evidence has been provided and the jury now must give its verdict.
The six points of the memo make for sensational reading: the Pakistan Army and the intelligence agencies were declared to be complicit in harbouring Osama bin Laden, an inquiry commission was promised in which Americans would sit in judgment which has also been announced in advance, US troops would be given carte blanche and a green light to conduct operations on Pakistani soil, a new national security team would be put in place and Pakistan’s nuclear assets would be put under a verification regime, disciplined as the memo says. The ISI would be cut down to size and Pakistani officers would be handed over to India. All this would be done if the US intervened against the Pakistan Army and supported the civilian political set-up. The memo clearly suggests that the top civilian echelons of the country made all these shocking commitments. What now? This is a million-dollar question. The government cannot be expected to do anything meaningful, as its topmost echelons could be a party to the dispute. The military it seems was the target. So a third party has to pick up the thread and take this case to its logical end. The only credible institution to do this is the judiciary and specifically the Supreme Court. The media has done its job and it is now for the judges to examine all the available evidence.
The memo shock
The memo shock
Finally, the Mike Mullen memo is out in the open and forms another twist in a saga that refuses to die. The memo indeed makes for grim reading and is bound to lead to further tensions in the normally fraught civil-military relationship in the country. If there is any truth in the memo having come from an official source, an allegation strenuously denied by Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani and the government, it is bound to have serious repercussions and raise many questions. But what stands confirmed by events outside Pakistan is that the memo was very much a reality and the government, the foreign office, the presidency and the embassy of Pakistan in Washington had been trying to obfuscate matters for many weeks in feeble attempts to somehow brush the whole matter under the carpet. The final nail in all these coffins was thumped by Admiral Mike Mullen himself who retracted his earlier denial of the memo and confirmed its receipt by going down his memory lane and asking a colleague who brought him a copy. What he did with it is irrelevant but what is important is that he did receive it. The probe, reportedly ordered by President Zardari after meeting General Kayani, has now a new and simple job to complete — to identify and punish the culprits. The charge has been established, the evidence has been provided and the jury now must give its verdict.
The six points of the memo make for sensational reading: the Pakistan Army and the intelligence agencies were declared to be complicit in harbouring Osama bin Laden, an inquiry commission was promised in which Americans would sit in judgment which has also been announced in advance, US troops would be given carte blanche and a green light to conduct operations on Pakistani soil, a new national security team would be put in place and Pakistan’s nuclear assets would be put under a verification regime, disciplined as the memo says. The ISI would be cut down to size and Pakistani officers would be handed over to India. All this would be done if the US intervened against the Pakistan Army and supported the civilian political set-up. The memo clearly suggests that the top civilian echelons of the country made all these shocking commitments. What now? This is a million-dollar question. The government cannot be expected to do anything meaningful, as its topmost echelons could be a party to the dispute. The military it seems was the target. So a third party has to pick up the thread and take this case to its logical end. The only credible institution to do this is the judiciary and specifically the Supreme Court. The media has done its job and it is now for the judges to examine all the available evidence.
The memo shock
