The Pakistani-American businessman who is at the center of a constitutional crisis brewing in Islamabad between the military and the civilian government became the butt of jokes Wednesday when a music video of him refereeing bikini wrestlers went viral on Twitter.
Late last year Mansoor Ijaz, who was born in Florida, brought forward a memo he said was authored by Pakistani ambassador to the U.S. Husain Haqqani in which the civilian government of Pakistan asked for the U.S. military’s help to avoid a coup by Pakistan’s military and intelligence agency. Both U.S. and Pakistan officials have called the memo a fake.
But the charges within the memo struck a nerve in Pakistan, and provoked a crisis in which Haqqani, a veteran diplomat, was forced to resign and President Asif Ali Zardari has lost political support from the military and judiciary.
The video, which has caused a major commotion in Pakistan, showed Ijaz refereeing a match between women wrestlers “Double D” and “Nasty Nancy.” They are seen grappling each other in a sexual manner. At one point, Ijaz says “Look at that, we’ve got some real tumbling going on here.” Ijaz admitted the video, filmed in Brussels, is real, but told the Associated Press it had been excavated by political enemies to discredit him.
Ijaz is expected to appear before the Pakistani Supreme Court later this month regarding the controversial memo, which has blossomed into a scandal called “memogate.” He told the AP that he has evidence that Haqqani did write the memo, despite the former ambassador’s denials.
Sara A. Carter is The Washington Examiner’s national security correspondent. She can be reached at [email protected].
