Pakistani court allows former envoy to travel abroad

Jan 30, 2012, 10:45 GMT

Islamabad - Pakistan's Supreme Court on Monday lifted a foreign travel ban on former ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani, in the latest sign of improving relations between the civilian government and the powerful military.

The court last month banned Haqqani from trips abroad after starting a hearing into the memogate scandal, which involved an alleged request sent by him for US assistance to thwart a possible military coup following the killing of Osama bin Laden in May.

The court accepted Haqqani's request to ease the restrictions but directed him to return at four days' notice if the commission probing the memo asked him to appear in person.

The court also extended the deadline for completing the investigation by the three-member commission by another two months.

The commission was initially tasked to complete the work in one month but it was delayed by the refusal of key witness Mansoor Ijaz, a Pakistani-American businessman who delivered the letter, to visit to give testimony last week due to security reasons.

The memo scandal pitted the government and military against each other because the army took strong exception to the letter and pushed for an independent investigation to find out who initiated it.

It is widely suspected, including in the army, that the probe may trace back the real authorship of the memo to the door of embattled President Asif Ali Zardari, who earlier appointed Haqqani as ambassador to the US despite opposition from the armed forces.

Soon after the scandal made the headlines the army allegedly asked the government to sack Haqqani, who was immediately replaced.

The court decision to let him leave the country was being seen as evidence of an increasing thaw in relations between the civilian government and the military, which hit rock bottom when army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani two weeks ago threatened the government with 'grievous consequences'.

The normalization of ties started last week when Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani contradicted his earlier statement in which he had accused the army leadership of violating the constitution by submitting affidavits to the court in the memo case without government permission.