Twist in Pak's memogate scam - a naked wrestling act

Islamabad, Jan 19: With the memogate scandal rocking the political scene in Pakistan, there is an ugly scam rearing its head that will bring more shame to the main protagonist in the scandal, Mansoor Ijaz. A music video has surfaced that shows the chief accuser acting as a commentator for a naked female wrestling act.

With Ijaz expected to visit Pakistan to testify before a commission probing the memo scandal, this video will cause a serious dent in the credibility of Ijaz and his statements in the Supreme Court. Ijaz was the eye of controversy when he exposed the memo that stated that the government was seeking US help to prevent a military coup.

With the Pak business man having high-flying connections with the US security establishment and back-channel diplomatic roles in Sudan and Kashmir, he said that the memo was written by the then Pakistan envoy to Washington, Husain Haqqani.

The scandalous video was made way back in 2004 and the role played by Ijaz was discovered by a blogger late Tuesday and was made viral soon after. Ijaz said that this was a move by Haqqani to discredit him ahead of his testimony and added that the video was not fake.

Ijaz appears in two versions of the video "Stupidisco" which is a house music track by Italian producer Junior Jack that was a club hit in 2004. One video shows two bikini-clad wrestlers 'Double D' and 'Nasty Nancy' who are seen in an obscene position. As the video progresses, they remove each other's clothing as well.

Ijaz is heard saying in the video, "She's giving it to her good now! You've got some real tumbling going on here. Nancy's got that mean look." Ijaz feigning innocence said that he was not aware that full nudity will be involved in the video. On the video, he said, "I did this as a favour for my wife's best friend, whose planned actor for the part did not show up for the shoot that day."

Ijaz stated the same from an undisclosed location and said that he had threats to his life for his role in the memogate scandal. He added, "I was never present for any part of the video where those naked girls were shown. My wife was present at all times."

Ijaz revealed to the Associated Press that he also threatened the producer of the video with legal action if he does not remove him from the clip. He had e-mails to validate his claims. He has written in the mail, "Given my political and public profile in the United States and around the world, it is impossible for me to appear in any part of any video clip with nudity of any type."

Zahid Bokhari, Haqqani's lawyer mounted the attack on Ijaz and said that he "can break all the norms of decency." He added, "I think a man of that stature, one who can go to that extent for fame, he can make up all kinds of false stories. I am really stunned by this."

The naked wrestling video was uploaded on Youtube in 2009 with as many as 376,000 views since then. The naked version of the video was uploaded to a site called Dailymotion in 2007.

On the video insult, Akram Sheikh, Ijaz's lawyer said that there were efforts to stop his client from coming to Pakistan. He said, "So what if my client has been dancing on the Internet. What difference does that make? He has never claimed to be perfect, or running an orphanage. Would Mr. Haqqani like his personal life exposed?"

OneIndia News