ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's ambassador to Washington returned to Islamabad on Sunday to explain himself over claims that he wrote a letter seeking US help against the country's military.
Local media reports implicated Haqqani in a memo allegedly sent from Zardari to Admiral Mike Mullen, then America's top military officer, seeking to curtail Pakistan's military.
The alleged memo, released last month by American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, said that a "new national security team" in Pakistan -- with US support -- could end ties between Pakistani intelligence and militants.
A senior government official told AFP that Haqqani "arrived early Sunday and is due to attend several meetings including a meeting with the president to explain the situation".
Haqqani has offered to resign over the row, but has denied any involvement with the document.
Nawaz Sharif demanded that the government investigate the issue. He threatened to move the Supreme Court if the findings of the investigation were not made public within nine days.
"I will go to Supreme Court myself," Sharif told a large public meeting in the industrial town of Faisalabad.
"Mr Zardari, you are undermining the sovereignty of Pakistan and its self respect," he added.
Defence minister Ahmed Mukhtar told a press conference in the eastern city of Lahore on Sunday that any decision on Haqqani's future would lie with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and must be made after an investigation.
"If our ambassador is involved, then it is a matter related to the prime minister," Mukhtar said. "The prime minister just cannot dismiss Haqqani without giving him a charge-sheet and conducting an investigation."
Asked whether there was any chance of a military coup in the country, Mukhtar said: "I don't think so."
He added that a BlackBerry messenger conversation reported to have taken place between Ijaz and Haqqani was also under investigation, after it was leaked to Pakistani media this week in an apparent bid to prove the ambassador's involvement with the memo.
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