PPP says 'nothing wrong' with leaked letter on visa-issuing powers to Haqqani

ISLAMABAD: A 2010 leaked letter revealed that former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani empowered the then ambassador to the US, Hussain Haqqni to issue visas to US officials.

"The Ambassador in Washington is authorised to issue visas valid up to one year without the Embassy having to refer each such aforementioned visa application to the concerned authorities in Pakistan," states the letter.

The document, dated July 14, 2010, has surfaced days after Haqqani claimed that with the empowerment of then-ruling civilian leadership, he had facilitated the presence of large number of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives in Pakistan to track down Osama Bin Laden, the founder of al-Qaeda.

"The ambassador in Washington is empowered to issue entry visas for restricted periods to US officials who have been recommended in writing by the concerned US authorities, i.e. the Department of State and whose duly completed application forms, it is clearly indicated for what purposes they intend to travel to Pakistan," stated the letter, signed by Gilani's Principal Secretary Nargis Sethi.

"The Pakistani embassy in US would issue these visas under intimation to the Prime Minister`s office in Islamabad," it adds.

Haqqani wrote in an article published by The Washington Post earlier month: "Among the security establishment’s grievances against me was the charge that I had facilitated the presence of large numbers of CIA operatives who helped track down bin Laden without the knowledge of Pakistan’s army — even though I had acted under the authorisation of Pakistan’s elected civilian leaders."

‘Nothing new or wrong’ in the letter

Meanwhile, clarifying the PPP's position on the controversy, party spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar said there was "nothing new or wrong" in the letter sent by Prime Minister House to the Foreign Office in 2010.

According to Dawn, Babar said the timing of the letter 'leaking' to media was suspect.

The PPP leader said the ambassador had been empowered to issue visas only to those whose purpose of visit was clearly defined and duly recommended by the US State Department.

"The purpose was to expedite, not bypass, the process," he added. "It [the letter] was also not an authorisation to issue visas to US Special Operation Forces."

The PPP spokesman also inquired as to how Osama Bin Laden lived in a cantonment for almost a decade directing global terrorism efforts. "The central question is not who, following due process, gave visas to some Americans who may have eventually been able to hunt and take Laden out," he contended.

"No amount of verbal jugglery, media circus and mudslinging on the previous PPP government will erase this question from the public mind."