Haqqani says he never received a warrant

WASHINGTON: Husain Haqqani, a former ambassador to the United States, said on Saturday he had not received any warrants about inquiries from Pakistani authorities over the past seven years.

“It seems to be another gimmick aimed to gullible Pakistani media. New allegations filed more than seven years after my forced resignation are obviously manufactured,” Mr Haqqani said in a press statement. “I doubt that Pakistan government will initiate extradition proceedings that are certain to fail and, in the process, open up examination of their secret expenditures in the US.”

Pakistan has initiated a process of seeking the extradition of Mr Haqqani through the Foreign Office on embezzlement charges after it failed to get him through Interpol. The Supreme Court had issued warrants to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to produce Mr Haqqani in the court in January last year, but the Interpol did not issue a warrant for him. Mr Haqqani, 62, was Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US from May 27, 2008 to Nov 22, 2011, one of the most tumultuous periods of US-Pakistan relations.

As part of the extradition process, the interior ministry has also sent a 355-page dossier to the Foreign Office, which will be forwarded to the US State Department.