US discounts Pakistan coup rumours

Dec 08, 2011 |

IANS

Washington

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The US has discounted rumours of a 'silent coup' against Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari after reports that he had gone to Dubai following a heart attack.

"We have seen the reports. We certainly wish him a speedy recovery," White House spokesman Jay Carney said Wednesday when asked to comment on media speculation that Zardari was contemplating resignation over 'memogate'.

"No concerns and no reason to believe" the speculation, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said when asked if the US was worried that a quiet coup was underway against the embattled president. "Our belief is that it's completely health-related," he said.

Asked to comment reports that some of US aid to Pakistan may have been used by Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) through a US based Kashmiri separatist leader to influence US policy on Kashmir, Toner said: "I've no information or, frankly, knowledge of those kinds of allegations."

"But of course, we talk in our counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan about all of these different groups and the threat that they pose," he said.

Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, 62, executive director of Washington based Kashmiri American Council (KAC) Wednesday pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and tax violations in a decades-long scheme to conceal the transfer of at least $3.5 million from the government of Pakistan to help fund his lobbying efforts.

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