ISLAMABAD: The military finally broke its silence over the controversy surrounding former envoy to the US Husain Haqqani on Wednesday, even as the interior ministry denied secretly issuing visas to US intelligence officials during the tenure of the current government.

In a couple of posts on his Twitter account, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said that former ambassador Husain Haqqani’s disclosures in a Washington Post article vindicated the military’s position about him.

“Views of Husain Haqqani published in a mainstream US newspaper, especially his account on issue of visas, vindicate stance of Pakistan’s state institutions,” read one of Maj Gen Ghafoor’s tweets. “The veracity of concerns about his role in the entire issue also stands confirmed,” he wrote in another message.

The military had always suspected Mr Haqqani’s loyalties, a distrustful relationship that culminated with the Memogate scandal and led to his resignation.

Interior ministry refutes claim ‘spies’ are still being issued visas

In an article on March 10, the former envoy in Washington disclosed how he developed contacts with the Obama administration and facilitated a US request for placement of Special Ops and intelligence personnel on the ground in Pakistan, without taking the Pakistani military and intelligence institutions in the loop.

He had gone on to say that the US personnel stationed in Pakistan under this arrangement had proven “invaluable” in helping Navy SEAL Team 6 raid Osama bin Laden’s hideout in Abbottabad.

The furore over the former ambassador’s revelations had hardly died down in parliament when a leaked letter from former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani brought the matter back to the limelight.

Much like the original disclosure, Gen Ghafoor’s tweets have again raised questions about bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan and have given a new lease on life to demands for the de-classification of the report of the Abbottabad Commission, which was mandated to establish the facts and fix responsibility for the denouement.

In a rejoinder sent to Dawn following the ISPR chief’s tweets, Mr Haqqani said: “The entire visa issue is obfuscation of the real issue about [bin Laden’s] presence in Pakistan. My advice to state institutions is to stop expressing reservations about individual civilians for effect inside Pakistan. The more they do that, the more the rest of the world will ask were Pakistan’s state institutions complicit or incompetent in [bin Laden] finding refuge in Abbottabad.”

Regarding the publication of the report, he said: “If state institutions do not want the Abbottabad Commission report published, why continue to fuel debate on the [bin Laden] debacle by scape-goating me over visas for US officials, which were fully authorised by both civil and military leaders”.

This is the first time that Mr Haqqani has categorically stated that the visas were authorised by both civil and military leaders.

Interior ministry

Also on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Interior Ministry rejected former interior minister Rehman Malik’s claim that US intelligence officials were still being secretly issued visas.

Terming the statement as incorrect and devoid of reality, the spokesperson said that not a single visa had been secretly issued to any foreigner by the current government. “If the senator has any proof in this regard, he should [present] it publicly.”

The spokesperson said that it was highly unfortunate that the former interior minister was not aware that the Coalition Support Fund had ceased quite some time ago.

Claiming that the present government held the sovereignty of the country as supreme and believed in a transparent visa regime, the spokesperson said that the minister had ordered certain steps to undo past irregularities in the visa issuance process.

Separately, a spokesman for Senator Malik clarified on Wednesday that he had not referred to “US spies” in his remarks, but rather talked of “US officials connected with the Coalition Support Fund”.

Immigration department

As part of measures being taken to ensure a transparent visa regime, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Wednesday ordered Interior Secretary Arif Ahmad Khan to prepare a comprehensive strategy paper on separating the Immigration department from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

According to a statement issued by the ministry, the minister said that immigration and border management were independent and specialised subjects the world over, adding that they needed to be separated from FIA, which dealt mostly with white-collar crime.

The interior minister was quoted as saying that modernised immigration and border management departments would streamline the monitoring of Pakistan’s entry and exit points through air, sea and land routes.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2017