Former Pakistani envoy to U.S. defiant in coup memo hearing
Pakistan's former ambassador to the United States denied any involvement in drafting a memo that accused the army of plotting a coup and suggested on the first day of a Supreme Court commission on Monday he was being framed. - Former envoy Husain Haqqani struck a defiant tone that was sure to do little to quell a scandal that has dominated Pakistani politics for the past three months and destabilized the civilian government amid rumors of a military takeover. "I had no role in creating, drafting and/or delivering the memorandum to the (U.S.) Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen," Haqqani said on Monday. "I have no knowledge of the origin, authenticity or purpose of the said memo." The murky scandal emerged last October when businessman Mansoor Ijaz, writing in a column in the Financial Times, said a senior Pakistani diplomat had asked that the memo, seeking help to rein in the military, be sent to the U.S. Defense Department.