Kabul, November 22
Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States resigned today, days after a Pakistani-American businessman said the envoy was behind a controversial memo that accused the Pakistani military of plotting a coup in May.

Envoy Husain Haqqani said on his Twitter account had sent his resignation to the PM.

State television said his resignation had been accepted.

“I have much to contribute to building a new Pakistan free of bigotry & intolerance,” Haqqani said on Twitter. “Will focus energies on that.” Haqqani’s resignation follows a meeting with Pakistan President Asif Zardari, the nation’s powerful army chief and its intelligence head.

A spokesman for the prime minister’s office said Haqqani was asked to resign and there would be an investigation into the memo.

Haqqani is close to Zardari but estranged from Pakistan’s military. He became entangled in controversy after the appearance of a column in the Financial Times. In that column, businessman Mansoor Ijaz said he delivered a memo to the Pentagon containing a plea for US help to stave off a military coup in the days after the May 2 US raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. — Reuters