by ROBRT MACKEY
The complex political and legal drama Pakistani reporters call “Memogate” veered into unexpected territory on Wednesday, when an American businessman who claims that Pakistan’s government asked the United States to help it stave off a military coup admitted that he once played a supporting role in a racy music video that featured naked female wrestling.
The businessman, Mansoor Ijaz, told The Associated Press that he did act in the 2004 video for “Stupidisco,” an Italian house music anthem, but denied that he was present during any nude scenes. The admission came after Pakistani bloggers discovered two versions of the video on the Internet, both of which feature a cameo of Mr. Ijaz playing the part of a ringside commentator on a wrestling match between two women. An X-rated edit ends with the women tearing each other’s bikinis off. Mr. Ijaz’s lines of dialogue in the video are sexually suggestive and include one word that is bleeped out.
After links to the video were passed around on Twitter on Wednesday, Mr. Ijaz insisted that supporters of President Asif Ali Zardari had drawn attention to the clip in an effort to damage his credibility as a witness.
As my colleague Declan Walsh reported, last year Mr. Ijaz “made a startling claim: that in the acrid aftermath of the Bin Laden raid on May 2, he had been asked to take a secret letter to the Americans seeking protection for Mr. Zardari’s government from a possible military coup. In exchange, it offered to dismantle part of the country’s powerful spy agency.”
Pakistan’s Supreme Court is carrying out an investigation into the unsigned memo, which Mr. Ijaz asserts was dictated by Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington. Mr. Haqqani, since recalled to Pakistan, has denied that account.
The Lede for more
(Thanks to Robin Khundkar)