No intention of stepping down now, Zardari says

Islamabad: Pakistan's president said he has no intention of stepping down in the face of allegations his government sought US help in reining in Pakistan's powerful military.

Asif Ali Zardari, speaking in an interview aired on Saturday night on Pakistan's Geo News TV, was responding to a question about whether army leaders might seek his resignation.

"No one has asked me yet," Zardari said. "I don't think there is such an innocent in Pakistan who will demand my resignation."

The scandal centres on a memo sent in May to US Admiral Mike Mullen, then the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. It asked for his help in stopping a supposed army coup after the American raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. The unilateral US raid angered and embarrassed Pakistan.

News of the memo first surfaced in October when Mansoor Ejaz, a US businessman of Pakistani origin, wrote a column in the Financial Times claiming Pakistan's former ambassador to the US, Hussain Haqqani, crafted the memo and asked him to send it. Ejaz also claimed the memo had Zardari's support.

Both Haqqani and Zardari's government have denied the allegations, but the envoy resigned in the wake of the scandal.

Pakistan's supreme court has ordered a judicial investigation into the scandal. The government says that probe is unnecessary because a parliamentary board is already investigating.

The Pakistani army, which has denied it ever intended to carry out a coup, was outraged by the memo and supports the Supreme Court investigation.

Talk of Zardari's possible resignation took on momentum when he suddenly left Pakistan for a Dubai hospital in early December where he was treated for as yet unspecified reasons. One of his close associates has said he had suffered a "mini-stroke".

He returned to Pakistan on December 19.

In Saturday's interview, Zardari was asked if leaving again was an option for him, to avoid humiliation or even an arrest by the army.

"Why should it be?" he responded.

Zardari said his government is not "at war" with the army and judiciary after a scandal over an unsigned memo asking for US help in curbing the might of the military.

Part of evolution

"We are not at war with the court. We are not at war with the military. There is no war," Zardari said.

"You think it is a clash, but I say it is part of evolution. This clash will evolve and then simmer down."

The United States on Friday appealed for Pakistan, Washington's uneasy ally in the "war on terror", to treat Haqqani "in a way that is fair, that's transparent". Zardari's government is opposing an investigation ordered by the Supreme Court into the unsigned memo, contending that only a parliamentary committee on national security is entitled to investigate.

"In my view, the parliament is supreme," Zardari replied to a question about the outcome of two separate judicial and parliamentary probes.

The opposition and intelligence chief want an independent inquiry.

Zardari said since he would remain the country's president for only the next 12-15 months, the next government can write to the Swiss courts on his alleged money laundering. ‘Why would my government do so,' he asked while speaking to Geo TV.

Zardari said issues relating to the Swiss courts and the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) had historical significance and thus, "neither I nor my prime minister would want such a thing to be part of the history".