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ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court on Monday further eased tension in the country's worst crisis in civilian-military ties since a 1999 coup by lifting a travel ban on a former envoy to Washington, who angered the generals after the emergence of a murky memo.
Husain Haqqani was barred from leaving the country in December by the Supreme Court, which is investigating the memo that sought US help in reining in Pakistan's generals after the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in May last year.
On Monday, a panel of nine justices said that Haqqani was free to travel outside Pakistan.
“I am glad that the Supreme Court has restored my right to travel, which had been rescinded without any charges being filed against me,” Haqqani told Reuters after the decision.
“I will join my family in the US after discussions with the leaders of the Pakistan People's Party.”
The scandal, which has come to be known as “Memogate”, highlighted the tense relationship between Pakistan's civilian governments and the powerful military that has bedevilled the country for decades.
The military, which sets foreign and security policies, has ruled Pakistan for over half its 64-year existence through a series of coups.
Haqqani returned to Pakistan in November last year amid the crisis that erupted when businessman Mansoor Ijaz alleged in October that a senior Pakistani diplomat had asked the memo to be delivered to the Pentagon. He resigned as ambassador shortly after arriving back in Pakistan.
Ijaz later identified the diplomat as Haqqani, who denies any links with the memo.
No evidence has emerged that the military was plotting a coup and the Pentagon at the time dismissed the memo as not credible.
But in the months that followed, the scandal threatened to turn into a full-blown conflict between the civilian leadership and the military, instability the insurgency-hit US ally cannot afford.
Ijaz was scheduled to testify before the commission in January, but he did not come to Pakistan because of security fears, he said.
CREDIBILITY Ijaz's refusal to testify in person and demands for high levels of security have also annoyed the court, and diminished his credibility, Salman Akram Raja, a Supreme Court advocate and constitutional expert, said.
“When Mansoor Ijaz did not show up last week, that signalled the de-escalation of the crisis,” echoed security analyst Imtiaz Gul. “The removal of restrictions on Haqqani's travel was the next logical step in this de-escalatory process.”
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani made conciliatory remarks towards the military in Davos this weekend.
Army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani has also moved to calm the rhetoric, saying he supports democracy and limited the military's responses to press releases.
“It's clear the government and the military have arrived at an understanding on this,” Raja said. “This is consistent with the impression of the general de-escalation surrounding the memo matter.”
Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML - N) leader Zafar Iqbal Jhagra welcomed the decision of extending the commission’s timeframe, saying that the memo’s importance could not be denied and that facts of the issue needed to be established.
Senior analyst Rasool Baksh Rais said giving more time to the commission was the correct decision.
For a transparent probe of the affair, the commission had to be given more time, he added.
Rais further said that since Ijaz had stuck to his stance therefore his testimony to the commission was necessary.
He was of the view that an environment of fear had been created which was restraining Ijaz from coming to Pakistan.
