PESHAWAR: An application was filed in the Peshawar High Court on Monday seeking orders for the country’s attorney general to inform the prime minister before his official visit to the US about the ‘basic facts’ of the May 2011 US operation in Abbottabad and CIA’s ‘secret communication’ with the then Pakistani president, Asif Ali Zardari, about the operation, which killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Freelance journalist Shahid Orakzai filed the application saying the sought-after update will help the prime minister convince the US president that former ambassador Hussain Haqqani based in the US should appear before Pakistani courts to defend himself over the alleged betrayal against Pakistan’s armed forces.

The application was filed by Mr Orakzai in connection with an already pending petition seeking orders for the Commission of Inquiry into the Abbottabad Incident to probe the ‘prior information’ allegedly available with the then president, Asif Ali Zardari, about the May 2011 US military operation against Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

In the main petition, Mr Orakzai requested the court to order the Abbottabad commission to examine the ‘evidence’ of the alleged communication between former president Zardari and then Pakistani ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani prior to the Abbottabad operation and submit report about it within 30 days.

Petitioner says information will lead to ex-envoy Haqqani facing Pakistani courts

In the application, he said Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is scheduled to visit Washington, where he is likely to hold a meeting with US President Donald Trump on July 22.

He claimed that the US president was still unaware of the CIA’s secret communication with former president Asif Ali Zardari shortly before the Abbottabad operation against Osama bin Laden.

Mr Orakzai said the ‘facts’ stated in the main petition were not known to the prime minister and that they should be brought to his attention ahead of his meeting with the US president.

He said President Trump should know that his predecessor had tricked the Pakistani armed forces by sharing secret communication about the Abbottabad operation with the then Pakistani president, Asif Ali Zardari, through the then Pakistani ambassador to the US, Hussain Haqqani.

The petitioner claimed that the high court had earlier sought comments from the federal government about the ‘evidentiary documents’ filed by him but the latter was reluctant to acknowledge the ‘documentary proof’ of the secret communication, which was even printed by the US magazine, Newsweek.

He contended that the CIA’s operation ‘Neptune Spear’ was an unprecedented breach of the security and sovereignty of Pakistan and that it should be on the negotiating table during the PM’s visit to the US.

The petitioner said ex-ambassador Hussain Haqqani, who continued to be in the US, had managed to resist the production orders issued by the Supreme Court for him.

In his comments filed in response to the main petition, Mr Zardari had said no secret information was received by him from Washington regarding the Abbottabad operation.

He had requested the court to dismiss the petition for being not maintainable.

“The public concern was promptly addressed with the constitution of a high powered commission known as the Abbottabad Commission headed by Supreme Court Senior Justice Javed Iqbal under the Commission of Inquiry Act 1956 by the then federal government,” he had said.

Mr Zardari had also said the commission had held a threadbare inquiry and examined civil, military and personnel of all agencies and innumerable others and that after prolonged sessions, hearings and deliberations, it had submitted the report, which, with its sensitivities and national interests, concluded the matter.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2019