Events in Pakistan have recently taken a twist after a controversial memo appeared said to be drafted by Pakistani Ambassador to the USA Hussain Haqqani. The memo was ousted by an American Business Man of Pakistani descent Mansoor Ijaz. The memo is said to have the approval of President Zardari as well.
Ever since the memo came to the light Mr Haqqani has handed over his resignation and President Zardari seems to have fled to Dubai under the pretence of medical checkups. According to some sources it could be weeks before President Zardari returns while others believe he could resign over health issues.
The central player in all this controversy seems to Mansoor Ijaz who ousted the memo, Ijaz was born in Tallahassee, Florida in 1961 to highly educated parents. His father Dr Mujadid Ijaz was theoretical physicist and played a major role in the development of Pakistan’s Nuclear Porgram, He was also a close friend of Dr Abdus Salam the Noble prize winning Pakistani scientist. Ijaz’s family belonged to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community a tolerant branch of Islam whose believers are considered heretics by the mainstream Muslims.
Spokesperson of Ahmadiyya Community Pakistan said although his family did belong to the Ahmadiyya Community, Mansoor Ijaz is not part of Jammat e Ahmadiyya and has no connection with it.
Mansoor attained a degree in nuclear physics from the University of Virginia and an MA in engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology but afterwards became a fund manager in the Wall Street. Ijaz had close ties with the Democratic Party and was very well connected politically.
An investment firm was setup by Ijaz in the 1990’s in which he was partner with retired Air Force Lt. General James Alan Abrahamson. While the former CIA director R. James Woolsey, was chairman of the board of Ijaz’s publicly listed company, Crescent Technology Ventures PLC, based in London