Pak military refutes Ijaz's claim on Pasha's activities

Referring to a blog on the website of the British newspaper, The Independent, which had quoted Ijaz as saying that he had learnt from US intelligence sources that ISI chief Pasha had received the go-ahead from Arab countries to oust Zardari, the military denied the controversial Pakistani-American businessman's assertions.

"It has been said that the (ISI chief) met senior Arab leaders and asked permission for a military coup in Pakistan. The story has been published without verification at any level," the Inter-Services Public Relations said in a statement.

"Contents of the article are strongly and categorically denied. A legal notice is being served to the newspaper to retract the story and apologise," it said.

Describing the contents of the blog published on December 13 as "false", the statement said the ISI chief had not met "any Arab leader between May 1 and 9, 2011" – the period immediately before and after the May 2 US military raid that killed Osama bin Laden in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad.

The ISI chief's "other visits to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and UAE only, prior to or after this period, were part of routine intelligence sharing activity, during which he interacted with his counterparts only", the statement said.

Incidentally, a petition seeking the immediate removal of Pasha had been filed in the Supreme Court here on Monday, alleging his involvement in efforts to oust Zardari.

In his petition, Communist Party of Pakistan chairman Jameel Ahmed contended that Pasha was not eligible to hold the high post.

He based his petition on articles in the foreign media which said Pasha had allegedly sought and received approval from Arab leaders to sack President Zardari.

"Till date these allegations have not been denied by both the ISI Director General and the Inter-Services Public Relations," Ahmed had said said.

Ijaz recently made public an alleged secret memo that had sought US help to stave off a military coup in Pakistan after the killing of bin Laden.

Pakistani leaders, including Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, have said the government played no role in drafting or delivering the memo, which has created a storm in diplomatic and political circles.

The army and ISI chiefs have described the evidence provided by Ijaz as credible and urged the Supreme Court to order a probe into the Memogate scandal.

However, the government has asked the court to dismiss petitions seeking a probe, saying the matter is already being investigated by a parliamentary panel.

In the weeks since he made the memo public, Ijaz has made a variety of conflicting claims.

He told 'The Independent' that a US intelligence source had told him the ISI chief "had travelled to a few of the Arab countries to talk about what would be necessary to do in the event they had to remove Zardari from power".

Ijaz repeated this claim to several TV news channels.

Several persons, including lawmaker Bushra Gohar of the Awami National Party, have now said that if authorities are taking note of Ijaz's claims about the memo, they should also give credence to his contention that the ISI chief was involved in a move to oust President Zardari.