Sherry Rehman appointed Pakistan's envoy to US

Islamabad, Nov 23 (IANS) Former minister Sherry Rehman, known for her outspoken views, was Wednesday appointed Pakistan's ambassador to the US after Husain Haqqani stepped down over a secret memo that claimed President Asif Ali Zardari feared a military coup after Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad town.

The daily Dawn reported that Rehman, Pakistan Peoples Party member of the National Assembly, was appointed Pakistan's envoy to the US.
 
 Haqqani Tuesday submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani over the secret memo that was sent to Washington.
 
 Pakistani businessman Mansoor Ijaz last month alleged that a senior Pakistani diplomat asked for help in getting a message from Zardari to then chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen.
 
 Ijaz alleged that Zardari feared a military takeover following the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden in his hideout in Pakistan town of Abbottabad May 2.
 
 Prior to the memo issue, the Pakistan Army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) were upset with Haqqani over issuance of visas to Americans without "prior scrutiny" by the Pakistani security agencies.
 
 Rehman, Pakistan's information and broadcasting minister, resigned from her cabinet post in 2009 due to differences over the government's media policy.
 
 She has led efforts to reform the blasphemy law after Aasia Bibi, a Christian mother of four, was sentenced to death for allegedly insulting the Prophet.
 
 Rehman was supported by Punjab governor Salman Taseer and minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti -- both of whom were shot dead this year.
 
 Salman Taseer was gunned down Jan 4 by one of his security guards, Mumtaz Qadri, because of his opposition to Pakistan's blasphemy law. Two months later, Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan's federal minister for minorities, was assassinated in Islamabad.
 
 A British newspaper had reported that with two of three Pakistani politicians who opposed the blasphemy law assassinated, friends of Sherry Rehman now fear for her life.
 
 She had been advised by government ministers to leave Pakistan, the report said. Haqqani's resignation from the ambassadorial post in Washington came in handy for the authorities to ease Rehman out of Pakistan.