Former Ambassador to U.S. Cites Threats in Pakistan Over Memo Case

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Husain Haqqani, the former Pakistani ambassador to the United States, has told his country’s top court that he faces threats to his life if he returns from Washington to testify before a judicial inquiry into whether the government sought American help to stave off a military coup last year.

Mr. Haqqani expressed his fears in a confidential letter to Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry this week as part of his request that the inquiry panel record his statement via satellite video link. The New York Times obtained a copy of the letter on Thursday.

Justice Chaudhry did not rule on the request but gave the panel six more weeks to complete its work, the second such extension it has been given.

The Supreme Court began the three-judge inquiry last December to discern the truth behind allegations that President Asif Ali Zardari’s government had written a secret memo seeking the Obama administration’s help to prevent a military takeover in the turbulent aftermath of the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May.

The memo accusations, which were made under murky circumstances by an American businessman of Pakistani origin, Mansoor Ijaz, caused sharp tensions between Mr. Zardari and the military leadership which, at one point, led to frenzied coup rumors. But the judicial panel has run into difficulties and scandal of its own, and it is seen as a waste of time by a growing legion of skeptics in Pakistan. It has, however, had notable political effects.

Mr. Ijaz accuses Mr. Haqqani, the former Washington ambassador, of writing the memo, which Mr. Haqqani has denied. In November, Mr. Haqqani returned to Pakistan and resigned his post and spent weeks sequestered in a guest suite at the prime minister’s residence under a travel restriction imposed by the court.

He was allowed to travel to the United States in late January on the understanding that he would return when summoned by the inquiry panel. But now, Mr. Haqqani says he faces death threats in Pakistan and needs to continue his testimony from abroad; his nemesis, Mr. Ijaz, was allowed to record a statement from London early this month.

“Every day I receive messages on Twitter, telephone and e-mail that I will be killed the day I set foot in Pakistan,” Mr. Haqqani wrote in a confidential letter to Justice Chaudhry dated March 28.

“Several Web sites connected to jihadi groups as well as individuals and organizations connected to a covert institution of state have called me a traitor.”

Furthermore, he wrote, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, a former head of the powerful ISI spy agency, “took it upon himself” to implicate Mr. Haqqani in the memo controversy.

While Mr. Ijaz’s assertions initially captivated Pakistan’s vibrant news media, with extensive airtime on television news networks, interest has waned of late as his credibility has repeatedly been called into question. Several claims by Mr. Ijaz have been knocked down, prompting Dawn, the country’s leading English daily newspaper, to note in its March 20 editorial, “Mr. Ijaz’s penchant for making an outrageous allegation one day and then quietly suggesting he isn’t sure of its veracity the next has shredded his credibility to the point of nothingness.”