A critical analysis of Husain Haqqani vs Mansoor Ijaz saga
Source: Pakistan Blogzine
Related posts: Deconstructing Husain Haqqani – by Aamir Mughal and Sarah Khan
Express Tribune must not distort facts about Husain Haqqani
Husain Haqqani, memogate and urban elites’ pandemonium on Twitter
Mullen throws Husain Haqqani under the bus
Mansoor Ijaz saga: An example of media mismanagement by PPP
Qasida-e-Husain-Haqqani – by Malik Siraj Akbar
I have no major issues with personal clouts and tribal loyalties as long as such clouts and loyalties are used for collective, not personal, benefit. However, questions arise when individuals with shady past and dubious present misappropriate intellectual and political capital of a political party to create and activate a media tribe to promote their personal interests while ignoring or even suppressing issues of more urgent and collective importance.
Take, for example, the case of Pakistan’s ambassador to the USA, Mr. Husain Haqqani (the person who manufactured and distributed offending pictures and documents about Shaheed Benazir Bhutto and Begum Nusrat Bhutto), who has a dedicated lobby of propagandists, urban-centric “liberal” opportunists (some of whom are clearly pro-military establishment) and ambitious flatterers who hang around him on Twitter and also in Islamabad or Washington D.C., not missing out a single opportunity to praise him, eulogizing his real and imaginary services to Pakistan or Pakistan Peoples Party. This network also includes genuine liberal progressive writers whose anti-establishment stance is being manipulated to support Haqqani’s career interests. President Zardari is abused by some of their friends (e.g., Ejaz Haider and Tammy Haq), Benazir Bhutto is cursed (e.g., Murtaza Razvi’s article on Nusrat Bhutto’s death), PPP is blamed (e.g., the blaming the victim brigade’s columns on Taseer’s murder), who cares? as long as the Namoos (honour) of Haqqani is carefully guarded. Clearly Mr. Haqqani has misappropriated the PPP’s intellectual capital and naive followers to develop and promote his personal career and guard his personal honour. Sadly, some sincere progressive writers and columnists too have allowed themselves to be used for career promotion and defence of Mr. Husain Haqqani.
While Ambassador Hussain Haqqani has played an important role in serving Pakistan’s and PPP’s interests in Washington, D.C., the due credit for his performance goes to President Asif Zardari who is the main mind behind political manoeuvring and policy making in the last four years. While Mr. Haqqani is an able executioner, as he was in his capacity as an assistant to Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Nawaz Sharif and previous masters, the key role of President Zaradri is being diluted and completely put aside by the Namoos-e-Haqqani Network (NHN) on Twitter and also in mainstream media. For them, and also for our esteemed Ambassador, it is sufficient if his own Namoos (honour) is carefully guarded by the likes of Ejaz Haider, Ayesha Tammy Haq and others, some of whom are known for their deep hatred of the very leader (President Zardari) and the party (PPP) he is duty-bond to serve. For Haqqani, his own Namoos is the first and last priority, the rest is simply disposable!
Such network has been able to thrive because of a naive decision by the PPP leadership to accommodate the Ambassador’s wife in the President’s media team. It is, therefore, no wonder that many of the Namoos-e-Haqqani Network loyalists, columnists, bloggers and Tweeps show little to no interest in highlighting the military state’s role in murder of PPP leaders (Benazir Bhutto, Salmaan Taseer, Shahbaz Bhatti) and atrocities against the Baloch, Pashtuns, Shia Muslims, Ahmadiyya Muslims and others, which have gained further momentum since the PPP came to power in early 2008.
The NHN has taken little to no interest in highlighting the plight of thousands of the Balochs, Pashtuns and Shia Muslims who have been mercilessly butchered by Pakistan army and its proxy jihadi organizations (TTP-SSP-LeJ etc).
Barring a token statement or two, the Namoos-e-Haqqani Network has done nothing to highlight the ongoing persecution and murder of Toori Pashtuns (Shia Muslims) of Parachinar who remain besieged by the ISI-Haqqani Taliban for the last four years. In fact one of their paid operatives (ironically a Toori Shia) is seen actively promoting and defending the honour of ISI. Similarly, the NHN has kept tight-lipped on the ongoing massacres of thousands of Baloch nationalists who are fighting for their basic human rights.
As a recent example of how the NHN operates in Pakistan’s mainstream media and also on Twitter, consider the case of how NHN members have been activated to defend the honour of Husain Haqqani in response to the Mansoor Ijaz saga and Imran Khan’s speech. Read again, the emphasis is not on defending the honour of Pakistan, or that of President Zardari, the emphasis is clearly on defending the honour (Namoos) of Mr. Haqqani. In fact the Mansoor Ijaz saga is a vivid example of mismanagement of media by friends and defendants of Mr. Haqqani with considerable damage to PPP’s interests.
While there are many examples on Twitter, let me cite only a few tweets. Note how one flatterer bestows Hussain Haqqani and his wife with the title of Mr. Pakistan and Mrs. Pakistan, a proposal which is hurriedly endorsed by the ‘Mrs. Pakistan’.
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
Out of despair? RT @mazdaki: Imran Khan targeting @husainhaqqani is slanderous , pathetic & desperate #fail #ptijalsaakchishti akchishti
So when are we giving this couple @husainhaqqani @fispahani Mr & Mrs. Pakistan award? seriously!fispahani farahnaz ispahani
sweet thought! RT @akchishti: So when R we gving ths couple @husainhaqqani @fispahani Mr & Mrs. Pakistan award? srsly!dasghar Dilawar Asghar
@husainhaqqani I wud ditto what @adnanrasool sd and wht @akchishti just sd that both u and @fispahani R Mr and Mrs Pakistan in their own wayfispahani farahnaz ispahani
Bless u.! ! MT @dasghar: @husainhaqqani I wud ditto wht @adnanrasool & @akchishti just sd that both u & @fispahani R Mr & Mrs Pakistan
With reference to the NHN activities in response to Mansoor Ijaz saga, it will be useful to reproduce the entire article because of which Mr. Haqqani and his defendants deemed it appropriate to criticize Mr. Ijaz:
Time to take on Pakistan’s jihadist spies
By Mansoor Ijaz
Source: Financial Times
Early on May 9, a week after US Special Forces stormed the hideout of Osama bin Laden and killed him, a senior Pakistani diplomat telephoned me with an urgent request. Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan’s president, needed to communicate a message to White House national security officials that would bypass Pakistan’s military and intelligence channels. The embarrassment of bin Laden being found on Pakistani soil had humiliated Mr Zardari’s weak civilian government to such an extent that the president feared a military takeover was imminent. He needed an American fist on his army chief’s desk to end any misguided notions of a coup – and fast.
Gen Ashfaq Kayani, the army chief, and his troops were demoralised by the embarrassing ease with which US special forces had violated Pakistani sovereignty. Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan’s feared spy service, was charged by virtually the entire international community with complicity in hiding bin Laden for almost six years. Both camps were looking for a scapegoat; Mr Zardari was their most convenient target.
The diplomat made clear that the civilian government’s preferred channel to receive Mr Zardari’s message was Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff. He was a time-tested friend of Pakistan and could convey the necessary message with force not only to President Barack Obama, but also to Gen Kayani.
In a flurry of phone calls and emails over two days a memorandum was crafted that included a critical offer from the Pakistani president to the Obama administration: “The new national security team will eliminate Section S of the ISI charged with maintaining relations to the Taliban, Haqqani network, etc. This will dramatically improve relations with Afghanistan.”
The memo was delivered to Admiral Mullen at 14.00 hours on May 10. A meeting between him and Pakistani national security officials took place the next day at the White House. Pakistan’s military and intelligence chiefs, it seems, neither heeded the warning, nor acted on the admiral’s advice.
On September 22, in his farewell testimony to the Senate armed services committee, Admiral Mullen said he had “credible intelligence” that a bombing on September 11 that wounded 77 US and Nato troops and an attack on the US embassy in Kabul on September 13 were done “with ISI support.”Essentially he was indicting Pakistan’s intelligence services for carrying out a covert war against the US – perhaps in retaliation for the raid on bin Laden’s compound, perhaps out of strategic national interest to put Taliban forces back in power in Afghanistan so that Pakistan would once again have the “strategic depth” its paranoid security policies against India always envisioned.
Questions about the ISI’s role in Pakistan have intensified in recent months. The finger of responsibility in many otherwise inexplicable attacks has often pointed to a shadowy outfit of ISI dubbed “S-Wing”, which is said to be dedicated to promoting the dubious agenda of a narrow group of nationalists who believe only they can protect Pakistan’s territorial integrity.
The time has come for the state department to declare the S-Wing a sponsor of terrorism under the designation of “foreign governmental organisations”. Plans by the Obama administration to blacklist the Haqqani network are toothless and will have no material impact on the group’s military support and intelligence logistics; it is S-Wing that allegedly provides all of this in the first place. It no longer matters whether ISI is wilfully blind, complicit or incompetent in the attacks its S-Wing is carrying out. S-Wing must be stopped.
ISI embodies the scourge of radicalism that has become a cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy. The time has come for America to take the lead in shutting down the political and financial support that sustains an organ of the Pakistani state that undermines global antiterrorism efforts at every turn. Measures such as stopping aid to Pakistan, as a bill now moving through Congress aims to do, are not the solution. More precise policies are needed to remove the cancer that ISI and its rogue wings have become on the Pakistani state.
Pakistanis are not America’s enemies. Neither is their incompetent and toothless civilian government – the one Admiral Mullen was asked to help that May morning. The enemy is a state organ that breeds hatred among Pakistan’s Islamist masses and then uses their thirst for jihad against Pakistan’s neighbours and allies to sate its hunger for power. Taking steps to reduce its influence over Pakistan’s state affairs is a critical measure of the world’s willingness to stop the terror masters at their very roots.
Clearly, Mr. Mansoor Ijaz’s article is an expression of the fact that it is not Pakistan’s civilian government but its army, ISI in particular, which is responsible for an on-going support to Al Qaeda and Taliban. What’s wrong in such position? Yet, for the defendants of Mr. Haqqani, it is more important to defend his career interests even if that has to be at the cost of truth and principles. Here are six snapshots, three are newspaper items and three are blog posts, which effectively antagonized Mansoor Ijaz forcing him to reveal some more discomfiting details of the memogate:
Mehmal Sarfraz writes in Daily Times (Editorial, 1 Nov 2011):
Mr Khan’s speech started with attacks against President Zardari and the Sharif brothers. His repetition of the false story pertaining to Ambassador Husain Haqqani about a nonexistent letter was uncalled for. Mr Khan should not bend facts to suit his case.
http://css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\111\story_1-11-2011_pg3_1
Dr Mohammad Taqi writes in Daily Times (No he Khan’t, 3 Nov 2011):
The PTI leader has been hanging out with Sheikh Rashid of Rawalpindi and early in his speech hit a low that even the foul-mouthed Rashid might envy. Imran Khan’s accusation against Ambassador Husain Haqqani, making wild allegations and that too based on a story by Mansoor Ijaz — a discredited ‘mediator’, neo-con sympathiser and proponent of Bush’s Iraq war — was simply pathetic. One wonders about his motive to quote a person who boasts of ties to both India and global jihadists. While a separate column is needed to address this issue, it just goes to show the shallowness of the PTI leader and that in his desperation for power he can stoop to any level.
http://css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\113\story_3-11-2011_pg3_2
Kamran Shafi writes in Express Tribune (3 November 2011):
Then he goes and badmouths our ambassador to the United States, let us not be afraid to name him, Husain Haqqani, by calling him the US ambassador to the US, i.e. a US stooge. As if this was not enough, he quotes from a controversial article by someone who has been much talked about in the press and in other public forums in the United States, let us not be afraid to name him either: Mansur Ijaz, saying that Haqqani asked Ijaz to deliver a letter to the Americans from Asif Zardari begging them to save him from Pakistan’s army generals.
Now then, let alone doing a 10-minute internet search and finding out exactly who Mansur Ijaz is, if Imran or his advisers had thought about this matter for 10 seconds before putting it in his speech, it would have become clear even to them that there was something very, very wrong with this storyline. If Haqqani is a US stooge, why would he need someone like Ijaz to deliver Zardari’s letter to the Americans? Elementary what, Imran?
As for Ijaz, I will only quote from the Roanoke Times, a newspaper out of Virginia. On December 26, 2001, President Clinton’s former national security adviser, Samuel ‘Sandy’ Berger, called Ijaz’s allegations “ludicrous and irresponsible”, when Ijaz said that the Clinton administration had ignored several offers from the Sudanese government to share intelligence on Osama bin Laden.
According to the same paper, Susan Rice, who served as assistant secretary of state for African affairs from 1997 to 2000, and is now the US ambassador to the UN, said about Ijaz’s claims that the “White House was not looking for foreign policy assistance from Ijaz”, “We did not need, nor would it have been appropriate for us to use a private citizen… ”.
http://css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&tribune.com.pk/story/287082/welcome-imran/
Tarek Fatah writes in the Huffington Post:
Both Admiral Mullen and Islamabad denied that any such back door diplomacy had taken place, but the denials could not put out the fire. What was ostensibly written as a critique of Pakistan’s jihadi extremists in fact turned out to have the exact opposite effect. In a country where anti-Americanism is rife, the elected civilian government was made out to appear as lackeys of the U.S.
Could the writer have intended to weaken the government and strengthen the military? Mansoor Ijaz is not new to controversy. According to the International Herald Tribune‘s Pakistan edition, “a deeper look into Ijaz’s background provides evidence that this hasn’t been the first time the influential businessman has raised controversy concerning his alleged role as a secret international diplomat.”
The IHT discloses that :
“In 1996, he was accused of trying to extort money from the Pakistani government in exchange for delivering votes in the US House of Representatives on a Pakistan-related trade provision. Ijaz, who runs the firm Crescent Investment Management LLC in New York, has been an interlocutor between U.S. officials and foreign government for years, amid constant accusations of financial conflicts of interest. He reportedly arranged meetings between U.S. officials and former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. He also reportedly gave over $1 million to Democratic politicians in the 1990s and attended Christmas events at former President Bill Clinton’s White House. Ijaz has ties to former CIA Director James Woolsey and his investment firm partner is Reagan administration official James Alan Abrahamson.”
Anywhere else a civilian diplomat warning directly or indirectly against a military coup would not be deemed wrong in itself. But in Pakistan, a civilian Prime Minister was toppled and arrested (Nawaz Sharif, in 1999 by General Musharraf) for simply trying to assert civilian control over the military. Even if Zardari and his diplomat had, as Ijaz claims, asked Ijaz to contact the American government to use its influence against a military coup, there was nothing unlawful or unconstitutional in what he did. But in Pakistan, Ijaz’s claims have provoked circumstances that are threatening at least the sacking of a respected ambassador and possibly undermining civilian rule.
Knowing the workings of Pakistan’s intelligence services, Ijaz’s article could have been part of a plan by the ISI to destabilize Pakistani democracy once again. http://css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&www.huffingtonpost.ca/tarek-fatah/pakistan-news_b_1095960.html
Sabahat Zakariya writes in Express Tribune – Blog (1 Nov 2011):
The speech was full of feel-good optimism as was expected and required. Talk of corruption, delivering rights to the poorest in the society and anti-Zardari sentiment elicited the most visible roars of approval. Personally speaking, I was disappointed at his resorting to lies about Hussain Haqqani’s nationality but heartened by his passing mention of minority and women’s rights. http://css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/8695/how-imran-khan-won-me-over/
Pakistan Media Watch – Blog writes in “Media Conspiracies and Imran Khan” (31 October 2011)
In an otherwise straightforward speech in Lahore on Sunday, Imran Khan alluded to a conspiracy theory of Mansoor Ijaz that this blog has discredited not only once, but twice already. One can give Imran Khan the benefit of doubt, though, as there is a history of examples of journalists feeding Imran conspiracies, possibly as an attempt to curry favour with the PTI chief. As we stated before, “Whether or not you support Imran Khan, all political leaders need to be given the facts, not led by their noses on a wild goose chase”. As Imran’s political influence grows, it is important that he – and all political leaders – be able to make decisions from factual information, not conspiracies. Otherwise, the consequences can be disastrous.
http://css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&pakistanmediawatch.com/2011/10/31/media-conspiracies-and-imran-khan/
I repeat: I have no major issues with personal clouts and tribal loyalties except when such clouts and loyalties are based on misappropriation of a political party’s intellectual and political capital for personal benefit while discarding the collective benefit.
Now let me ask: why is no such tribal support activated to mourn Ajmeer Shah? Why is such tribal loyalty absent when human rights activists and media persons misrepresent Shia genocide by the ISI backed TTP-SSP-LeJ as routine sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shias? Why is the NHN nowhere to be seen when dumped, deshaped dead body of journalist Javid Naseer Rind is found? Politically speaking, why does the NHN go into hiding when Mosharraf Zaidi, Ejaz Haider, Najam Sethi etc manufacture most poisonous and slanderous attacks on President Zardari? Where do they vanish when Murtaza Razvi writes a hateful post against Benazir Bhutto on the death of her own mother, Begum Nusrat Bhutto? Is the honour of Husain Haqqani more important than the honour of Shaheed Rani?
I hope someone may help me in findings answers to the above questions.
Note to NHN propagandists: I believe in political, non-violent struggle against the oppressors and the opportunists. In this respect my ideal is not Al Zulfiqar but Benazir Bhutto who waged a peaceful struggle against military dictators (General Zia, General Musharraf) as well as against opportunists (Jatoi, Khar, Ramay, Aitzaz Ahsan etc) within her own party. I hope Pakistan Blogzine will be kind enough to publish this post discarding all pressures and blackmailing by the NHN.
16 Comments from Pakistan Blogzine
http://pakistanblogzine.wordpress.com/2011/11/03/namoos-e-haqqani-network-nhn-by-ghulam-ahmad-toori/
Fahim Siddiqui
November 3, 2011 at 10:55 am
It’s interesting to see an honourable doctor all humility and praise for Pakistan’s ambassador to US:
mazdaki Mohammad Taqi
Imran Khan targeting @husainhaqqani is slanderous , pathetic & desperate #fail #ptijalsa
mazdaki Mohammad Taqi
I concur MT“@husainhaqqani: @frooq @mazdaki I block all users of abusive language, irrespective of party affiliation ” #yougotblocked
beenasarwar beena sarwar
Good policy. RT @husainhaqqani: @frooq @mazdaki I block all users of abusive language, irrespective of party affiliation
mazdaki Mohammad Taqi
MT “Reuters on @husainhaqqani speech about #US – #Pakistan relations at @ChicagoCouncil bit.ly/tNUIuJ”
mazdaki Mohammad Taqi
Must watch MT“@husainhaqqani invites young #Pakistanis 2 be a nation of achievers, not complainers t.co/qcqzwYIb” Be the change u wanna see
mazdaki Mohammad Taqi
MT “@husainhaqqani: Tribute by @fispahani :’ #NusratBhutto -We Salute You’ bit.ly/vfatQQ” Iron Lady – for resolve against tyrant
husainhaqqani Husain Haqqani
by mazdaki
Reuters– ‘Pakistan military denies BBC report on Taliban links’ reut.rs/ss7aLH
mazdaki Mohammad Taqi
Must watch MT“@husainhaqqani invites young #Pakistanis 2 be a nation of achievers, not complainers t.co/qcqzwYIb” Be the change u wanna see
mazdaki Mohammad Taqi
wohi maikhana-o-sahbaa,wohi saghar,wohi shisha/magar awaze nosha nosh madham hoti jati he goo.gl/WWicr @beenasarwar @husainhaqqani
husainhaqqani Husain Haqqani
by mazdaki
On way to Portland, OR. Look forward 2 town hall meeting w/ Pakistani community in Oregon tonight
beenasarwar beena sarwar
by mazdaki
‘Crush India’ 1971 mood is like’Crush America’ mood now: Cowasjee; we need realism of @husainhaqqani (YES) bit.ly/oYo8As #Pakistan
Reply
Mussalman
November 3, 2011 at 10:56 am
غالباً یہ 1991ء کا موسم گرما تھا، جب لاہور کے گورنر ہاؤس میں وزیراعظم نواز شریف نے ایک ہنگامی اجلاس طلب کیا۔ لاہور کے نواحی ضلع شیخوپورہ کے بعد کہ ہمیشہ جرائم کی پرورش گاہ رہا، لاہور شہر میں ڈکیتیوں کی لہر تھی اور بے پناہ تھی۔ درویش وزیر اعلیٰ غلام حیدر وائیں کے علاوہ جو تعلیم و تدریس اور وعظ و نصیحت کے آدمی تھے، پنجاب کے انسپکٹر جنرل پولیس چوہدری سردار محمد بھی شریک تھے۔ قلم و قرطاس کا آدمی، جسے پولیس گردی سے زیادہ مطالعے اور سیاست سے شغف تھا۔ پنجاب پولیس برباد تھی اور ہر گزرتے دن کے ساتھ برباد تر ۔ 1988ء سے 1990ء تک میاں محمد نواز شریف کی وزارت اعلیٰ کے دوسرے دور میں پنجاب پولیس میں 25 ہزار سے زیادہ بھرتیاں ہوئیں تقریباً سب کی سب سفارش پر۔ نون لیگ سے تعلق رکھنے والے ایم پی اے اور ایم این اے فیصلہ کن تھے۔ ہر ایک کا کوٹہ ۔حصہ بقدر جثہ۔ ایسے ایسے لوگوں کو وردی پہننے کا شرف حاصل ہوا ، جیلوں میں جنہیں جانا چاہئے تھا۔ اس کے بعد شہباز شریف کی بہترین کوششوں کے باوجود پنجاب پولیس کبھی سنبھل نہ سکی کبھی سدھر نہ سکی۔ تلاطم خیز دور میں اصل مسئلہ امن نہیں سیاسی استحکام تھا۔ یہ کہ چند ووٹوں کی اکثریت سے قائم مسلم لیگی حکومت کو کیونکر اور کس طرح بچا لیا جائے۔ مرکز میں محترمہ بے نظیر بھٹو کی حکومت تھی۔ سب سے بڑا دردِ سر جس کا یہ تھا کہ ”رجعت پسندوں“ کے رہنما نواز شریف سے کیونکر نجات حاصل کی جائے۔ جس طرح نواز شریف کے علاوہ فوج اور خفیہ ایجنسیوں کا یہ کہ جلد از جلد کس طرح محترمہ سے چھٹکارا پایا جائے۔ امریکہ میں صدر زرداری کے ذاتی نمائندے حسین حقانی تب میاں صاحب کے بازوئے شمشیر زن تھے اور اخبارات میں اس طرح کے اشتہار چھپا کرتے”تم نے ڈھاکہ دیا، ہم نے کابل لیا“۔ حسین حقانی کے پاس کچھ تصاویر تھیں، جو وہ ہر ایک کو دکھایا کرتے اور مطلع کرتے کہ معاملات کو اگر ان پر چھوڑ دیا جائے تو چشم زدن میں وہ غنیم کے لشکر کو بحیرہ عرب میں غرق کر سکتے ہیں۔ اقتدار کا توازن ارکانِ پنجاب اسمبلی کے ہاتھ میں تھا۔ ایک آدھ بھی بگڑ تا تو شریف حکومت لرزنے لگتی۔
کل رات مے کشوں نے توازن جو کھو دیا
خط سبو پہ کون و مکاں ڈولتے رہے
انہی دنوں میاں محمد نواز شریف نے لیاقت بلوچ سے یہ کہا تھا : شب تمام بندوبست کر کے سوتا ہوں، لیکن سویر سو کر اٹھتا ہوں تو لگتا ہے، بچوں گا نہیں؛ چنانچہ ارکان اسمبلی کو آسودہ رکھنابہرحال لازم تھا۔ ظاہر ہے کہ ارکان کی ترجیح پٹوار تھی یا پولیس۔ اپنی پسند کا تحصیل دار ،اپنی پسند کا تھانیدار۔ عنایت مقصود ہوتی، تو ایک عدد یا ایک سے زیادہ نائب تحصیل داروں کی تقرری کے پروانے عطا ہوتے۔ عتاب جس پر نازل ہوتا، اس کے حلقے میں مخالف تھانیدار لگا دیا جاتا ۔
وزارت اعلیٰ کے دو مشکل برس بتانے کے بعد میاں محمد نواز شریف فوج، خفیہ ایجنسیوں، ایم کیو ایم ، پولیس اور پٹوار کی مدد سے بڑی اکثریت والے وزیر اعظم بنے تو پنجاب کے گورنر میاں محمد اظہر ان کے لئے دردِ سر ہو گئے۔ آئے دن وہ انہیں یاد دلاتے کہ مہنگائی بڑھ رہی ہے اور برباد کر دی گئی پولیس مجرموں کی بجائے معصوم شہریوں کا تعاقب کرتی ہے۔ میاں صاحب مگر کچھ اور مشاغل میں مگن تھے۔ وقتی مصلحت میں اقتدار اور سیاست کی حرکیات کو نظر انداز کر دینے والے ان کے سرپرست جنرل اسلم بیگ، جنرل حمید گل اور غلام اسحاق خان ٹک ٹک دیدم، دم نہ کشیدم کی تصویر۔ تصویر نے مصور سے بغاوت کر دی تھی۔ تخلیق اب خالق کا منہ چڑاتی تھی۔ تقدیر کند خندہ
تو آں قاتل کہ از بہر تماشا خونِ من ریزی… ناتمام…ہارون الرشید
http://search.jang.com.pk/details.asp?nid=505600
Reply
Yasin
November 3, 2011 at 11:02 am
It is a known fact that Mr Haqqani worked as a paid advisor for IJI, the same IJI which was provided millions of rupees by the ISI to defame and defeat Benazir Bhutto and PPP. Much of that illegal money was provided in order to manage the media campaign (read smear campaign) against BB. Link it with Sheikh Rashid Ahmed’s recent revelation about Mr Haqqani’s role in the BB’s letter forgery, and that will give us the whole picture.
Will the blind disciples of Mr Haqqani care to read, and reflect?
http://criticalppp.com/archives/1356
Reply
Yasin
November 3, 2011 at 11:02 am
BB was a very generous and kind hearted lady. There is no argument about that. Her comments about Mr Haqqani represent the same kindness which was a part and parcel of BB’s character.
Do you suggest that Mr Haqqani did not have any role in BB’s defamation, or that he never approached Musharraf to become a minister in his cabinet, or that he was never paid money from the ISI’s illegal payments to IJI, or that he was a naive young student during all those years?
Mr Haqqani is a man of dubious credentials; commitment and loyalty seem to be lacking in his character. In the words of Ardershir Cowasjee, Mr Haqqani is a ‘weaver of lies, the most prominent weaver and damage-doer in Pakistan’s history‘.
http://www.dawn.com/weekly/cowas/990629.htm
Reply
Rahat Ali Changezi
November 3, 2011 at 11:04 am
Comments on Husain Haqqani and Balochistan From an LUBP article:
Hoss says:
July 23, 2011 at 12:43 pm
First I don’t think there are liberals in Pakistan. The name mentioned Raza Rumi, Marvi sarmad and few others are not liberal by any means. Marvi is a PPP supporter, Raza Rumi has no clue about any thing. He is primarily a meaty mouthy writer with half baked ideas and probably does not even understand what liberalism is all about. Most of these guys just follow Hussain Haqqani who is nothing more than a rank opportunist. A recent article in a US paper, a baloch writer, exposed Hussain Haqqani, and I agree with what he wrote about him. Will try to post the link too. I read somewhere that most of the Pakistani liberals are primarily left of the center in good times and right of the center in bad times. There is no chance of true liberal emerging from a predominantly feudal society where most of the middle class so called liberals, profess liberalism to become acceptable to the elite. Even the secularists from the smaller provinces are secular in reaction to state’s commitment to religion and the use of religion to suppress political rights of the people of the smaller provinces. They hardly believe in human rights and are as against the women rights as an fundamentalist rightwing can be.
We have a thoroughly confused society and there is no magic wand to fix that. This confusion helps the establishment to manipulate different groups for maintaining its control over the state.
With apologies to the writer, I don’t think there is even a single soul in the Ppp that can be called liberal in any sense. Liberals stand for change, and none in the ppp likes the change.
Ali Arqam says:
July 23, 2011 at 1:36 pm
Kudos, Hoss Sain!
You nailed it, The article you are mentioning was by Masti Khan, I think, who exposes HH for writing a letter to Carnegie Endowment to stop a gathering of Baloch secularists.
Though HH has denied writing such letter but Masti Khan sticks to what he has written.
Ayesha S wrote an obituary when democrat HH turned to a diplomat HH, and criticised him for using his intellect and skills advocating the military in United States.
But everything is right under the tag of “Pragmatism” and “Practicality”.
Hoss says:
July 23, 2011 at 1:59 pm
Actually Ali I had discussion with Ayesha when she was in DC on HH and his continuously changing loyalties. I think at heart he is still a gun touting jamaatia that he was in Karachi.
Ali Arqam says:
July 23, 2011 at 2:30 pm
Though a columnist friend commented that Ayesha S is harsh on HH, but when I watched his recent session at Carnegie Endowment, I was shocked after listening him repeating the same arguments in defense of military on post Bin Laden developments, as spinned by the pro military writer Ejaz Haider and others like him.
http://criticalppp.com/archives/53901
Reply
Waris Jatoi
November 3, 2011 at 11:08 am
Is it a coincidence that the 50 rupee note with Hussain Haqqani’s picture is signed by Ghulam Ishaq Khan.
Does anyone remember Hussain Haqqani’s famous interview in which he candidly admitted: “I was always with the President”????
Reply
Samad
November 3, 2011 at 11:14 am
Slanderous post.
Reply
Pari Agha
November 7, 2011 at 9:23 am
I can identify the following names as key affiliates of NHN on Twitter:
Raza Rumi, Marvi Sirmed, Dr. Mohammad Taqi, Ejaz Haider, Beena Sarwar etc, and some mini-affiliates: Riaz Toori, Shahid Saeed, Malik Siraj Akbar etc.
While I personally respect the writings of Raza, Marvi and Taqi, I think they are sacrificing their own Namoos for the sake of Haqqani’s Namoos which is not a great bargain
Reply
Urooj Sarwar
November 7, 2011 at 9:25 am
If you are writing against Hussain Haqqani and General Kayani, you must be a member of Al Zulfikar.
Reply
Jhanrnay Ka Dharna
November 7, 2011 at 9:31 am
The 50 Rupee note with Ambassador Haqqani’s picture is an apt expression of the benefits (money, accommodation, lunch, appreciation, benefits) he provides to various members of his Namoos Network. He was trained in this art by none else than the ISI chief Hamid Gul, the founder of IJI.
How can NHN flatterers refuse such generosity?
menu note wakha, mera mood banay
http://youtu.be/u3pu9AsiAxE
Reply
Ihsan Qadri says:
November 13, 2011 at 4:43 am
Latest from Dawn:
Mansoor Ijaz stands by his claim
In an email message to Dawn, Mr Ijaz pointed out that the denial confirmed his claim.
“I never said I delivered anything to Admiral Mullen. What I wrote was — the memo was delivered to Adm Mullen at 1400 hrs on May 10,” Mr Ijaz wrote. “We have proof that Admiral Mullen received the memorandum and acknowledged it to the person who delivered it to him.”
Mr Ijaz confirmed Capt Kirby’s claim that Admiral Mullen did not know the Pakistani-American businessman.
“It is true that I do not know Admiral Mullen and have never met him. But the person I asked to take the memorandum to him — that person knew him about as well as anyone can. And that person knows me pretty well too,” Mr Ijaz wrote.
He claimed that the article which included Capt Kirby’s denial was written “with a slant to discredit me personally because whoever put him up to writing the article could not avoid the facts — facts that the hidden hand behind (this) article knew full well because he, along with myself, are the only two people who know precisely what we did”.
However, in his clarification Mr Ijaz does not say that he was directly contacted by President Zardari or that he was acting on his instructions.
Meanwhile, diplomatic sources in Washington raised new objections to Mr Ijaz’s statement, noting that the Pakistanis were saying they never sent the message while the Americans were saying that they did not receive it.
“Even if Mr Ijaz’s argument that he did indeed communicate with third parties about serving as a secret intermediary is accepted, he cannot prove that his role affected decisions either in Pakistan or the US,” said one such source.
“If Mansoor Ijaz delivered a secret message, why did he publicise it unless he is part of some trap for the democratic Pakistani government?” the source asked.The source also disputed Mr Ijaz’s claim that the Pakistani official who gave him President Zardari’s message used a Blue Berry to exchange message. “Are private BB messages or calls sufficient to form basis of international diplomacy?” he asked.
“Even if he proves he exchanged messages with someone he considers a senior diplomat, is there any proof with Mansoor Ijaz that he was acting under authority of President Zardari or that the memo Ijaz delivered was actually read by Admiral Mullen?”The source pointed out that after each time Mr Ijaz claimed he played a secret channel role, there had been a controversy. “Is it possible that he exaggerates his role for self-publicity and promotion? Why should he be deemed credible?” the source asked.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/11/12/mansoor-ijaz-stands-by-his-claim.html
http://criticalppp.com/archives/62476
Reply
Tahir Jadoon
November 13, 2011 at 10:50 am
Hammad Khan says:
November 13, 2011 at 4:46 am
MANSOOR IJAZ, counter-terrorism analyst, tells the Morning Majority on 630 WMAL that it seems implausible that Inter-Services Intelligence, the premier Pakistani spy agency, knew nothing about where bin Laden was.
Indeed, it seems much more likely that elements within the agency knew exactly where he was, and kept bin Laden within that compound on just the terms it wanted. In all of this, Pakistan has almost certainly acted as a knowing babysitter, watching over the terror master so he would do no further harm — as long as the babysitting fees were sufficient and recurring. Washington, in its infinite naiveties, simply did not know who exactly was being babysat. Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil; it was the perfect arrangement between a Pollyannish parent and its seditious babysitter.
Fasi Malik says:
November 13, 2011 at 6:25 am
Back in August 2011, Najam Sethi wrote:
Pakistan proposes, US disposes?
Rather cunningly, too, via Hussain Haqqani, his sharp Ambassador in Washington, Mr Zardari is leveraging with the US by letting it negotiate with GHQ over the net worth of the strategic or transactional dimensions of the US-Pak relationship whereby each actor is venting its anger, alienation and frustration directly and bluntly with the other.
http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta2/tft/article.php?issue=20110819&page=1
Fasi Malik says:
November 13, 2011 at 6:29 am
Such Gup (Najam Sethi):
Riot act in reverse
Now that Admiral Mullen has denied that he ever sent the notorious “Memo” from Hubby to the White House (pledging that the government would replace the current military leadership following the OBL raid on May 2), Hubby’s loyal trooper in DC is off the hook. Our man in DC has stuck by Hubby through many a crisis while being attacked by the khakis for doing precisely that. Of late, we hear, Our man in DC has read out the riot act in reverse and has told the khakis that he is ready to give up his crown of thorns and go back to teaching and writing. Hubby doesn’t want that, given Our Man’s Washington rolodex and ability to win friends and influence people in the US. Ironically, while the khakis loathe seeing him as our rep in DC, they’re more worried about what he might do once he is free from the obligations of office. For the moment, the khakis seem to have decided that it’s better to have him on side than against.
http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta2/tft/article.php?issue=20111111&page=32
Tahir Jadoon says:
November 13, 2011 at 6:30 am
Spouse Support
Hussain Haqqani, his wife attack Imran Khan for his comment
KAVEREE BAMZAI NOVEMBER 5, 2011 | UPDATED 13:59 IST
When Imran Khan accused Pakistan Ambassador to the US, Hussain Haqqani, of working against his country’s interests, he found himself under a two-pronged attack.
Not only from Haqqani who gave an interview to a TV channel daring Khan to prove his charges but also his articulate wife, Asif Ali Zardari’s spokeswoman, Farahnaz Ispahani, who tweeted: “Attacking my husband by name! How powerful is my husband. And how small is Imran Khan.” Really? We would like to know how powerful Haqqani is, and why.
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/imran-khan-accuse-pakistan-ambassador-to-the-us-hussain-haqqani/1/158800.html
Tahir Jadoon says:
November 13, 2011 at 6:31 am
Imran should bring the letter to SC: Haqqani
By Katrina Jones – Oct 31st, 2011 (No Comment)
5
Islamabad: Pakistani ambassador of the United States Hussain Haqqani has said if Imran Khan has the letter of President Asif Ali Zardari, he should present it in the Supreme Court.
According to a private TV channel, the ambassador said that leveling charges could not change the facts.
Earlier on Sunday, Imran Khan alleged that Haqqani was working for US interest and he has no concern with Pakistan.
http://www.thenewstribe.com/2011/10/31/imran-should-bring-the-letter-to-sc-haqqani/#.Tr-cCEPib8A
Reply
admin
November 13, 2011 at 10:03 pm
Mansoor Ijaz restates his position in @sanabucha’s #Lekin. His anti-ISI stance is credible and respectable:
http://www.pakistantime.net/2011/11/lekin-13th-november-2011-mansoor-ijaz-did-president-zardari-write-a-letter-to-mike-molan
http://www.pakistantime.net/wp-content/uploads/jw-player-plugin-for-wordpress/player/player.swf
Reply
Salma
November 14, 2011 at 8:23 am
Zabradast; I love Pakistan Blogzine for the boldness…and for informing readers on the duplicity of certain self proclaimed champions…keep it up!
Who is Mansoor Ejaz? Why was he approached by Zardari government to be their messenger to Mullen?
Yesterday, in Sana Bucha’s program (Lekin), it was one vs four:
Mansoor Ijaz (independent) vs: Sana Bucha (ISI), Nazir Naji (PPP), Shahzad Chaudhry (ISI), Tariq Azeem (ISI)
Mansoor Ijaz clarified his position. The man is clearly pro-democracy, anti-military establishment.
http://www.pakistantime.net/2011/11/lekin-13th-november-2011-mansoor-ijaz-did-president-zardari-write-a-letter-to-mike-molan
http://www.pakistantime.net/wp-content/uploads/jw-player-plugin-for-wordpress/player/player.swf
@Insafian
If Mansoor Ijaz is anti-security establishment, why are anti-establishment writers Dr. Taqi, Mehmal Sarfraz etc writing against him?
He never named Hussain Haqqani in his interviews and columns. Why are they attacking him for something he never said?
RiazToori Riaz Ali Toori
Never answer the abuse because dog barks and a wise passes silently, if a dog bites you, in revenge would you? No. #Pashto proverbs
RiazToori Riaz Ali Toori
O Allah! Grant me not enemies whose shameless acts of venegeance, I cannot reply in their style.” Due e Ali Ibni Abi Talib a’s
RiazToori Riaz Ali Toori
Rt “@husainhaqqani: Encouraged by vocal support 4 tolerant, inclusive, democratic #Pakistan during speech in Los Angeles community event”
In the meanwhile, ISI’s best friend from India, is dutifully doing his job:
Rezhasan Rezaul Hasan Laskar
Mansoor Ijaz on Geo News now on the infamous memorandum.
18 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply
Rezaul Hasan Laskar: An Indian journalist embedded in Deep State’s narratives
http://criticalppp.com/archives/58465
………
ISI’s budding apprentice:
SamadK Samad Khurram
Does any body have Mansoor Ejaz’s email? I want some of my fiction to make headlines.
shahidsaeed Shahid Saeed
I like the Chocolate dipped Strawberries more RT @HumaImtiaz Apparently Mansoor Ijaz received a message on a Blue Berry bit.ly/utQCnj
12 Nov Favorite Retweet Reply
HumaImtiaz Huma Imtiaz
Apparently Mansoor Ijaz received a message on a Blue Berry. bit.ly/utQCnj
Chiltan salma jafar
Some PPP officials call their critics barking dogs…:-)) Hilarious!!!
Chiltan salma jafar
Few hav the palate fr such a pinching piece RT: @farhadjarral A critical analysis of HusainHaqqani vs MansoorIjaz saga: bit.ly/vBwD8F
Chiltan salma jafar
@Laibaah1 an amazing piece…keep it up!
There is plethora of self claimed pseudo-intellectuals in Pakistan Media. These pseudo-intellectuals never bothered to the situation of country or problems of people rather than they have certain self interest agendas. All of these self proclaimed intellectuals are on payroll of one or the other person or country. Husain Haqqani is a skilled and wily diplomat who faces the near-impossible task of representing a country that Washington considers at once a crucial ally and a treacherous adversary. It was Hussain Haqqani’s effort that Pakistan is getting civilian and military aid and despite Osama’s presence in Abbotabad, you are not bombed by B-52 and other disastrous arms. Infact his role is very important and crucial in saving Pakistan’s national interests despite double game played by Pakistan’s establishment.
Ambassador Hussain Haqqani is seen by many in his own country as an American toady. But most of his critics, including many of Pakistan’s generals, benefit materially from Haqqani’s work as his country’s most effective interpreter and apologist.
Bin Laden dilemma: Haqqani’s entire tenure as ambassador has been an exercise in crisis management. But the crisis has become truly perilous since a US Navy SEAL team found Osama bin Laden living quietly in a city not far from Pakistan’s capital and killed him May 2. Pakistan saw the raid as a gross violation of its sovereignty; the US saw bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan as, at the very least, proof of Pakistan’s unwillingness to fight terrorism. Since the raid, the countries have behaved like an about-to-be-divorced couple: The Pakistanis have been rolling up CIA networks, and the US has suspended $800 million in military aid. Jeffrey Goldberg, a national correspondent for The Atlantic, is a Bloomberg View columnist writes that “ I visited Haqqani recently at his embassy, which is across the street from the Israelis (of all people), to talk about the diverse impossibilities of his assignment. He didn’t completely disagree with me when I suggested that he has the worst job in the city. “You can call it the worst, or the best,” he said. “I see it as the single most challenging.”
Double-layered problem: Haqqani faces a double-layered problem. Not only is his country viewed by many on Capitol Hill as an enemy state, but also Pakistanis at home have turned ferociously anti-American. So Haqqani spends as much time explaining Pakistan to America. He indeed subtly handled the OBL episode, saving the crucial ties between Pakistan and USA. Indeed Hussain Haqqan is playing commendable role for promoting Pakistan’s national interests.
I’m still not able to understand; who is real stakeholder in Pakistan…either it is army or our people???Pakistani state institutions has no right to dictate Pakistani democratically elected civilian Govt…Husain Haqqani doing his job with great zeal, devotion and he is also keeping national interest supreme…He contributed too much for present US policy for Pakistanis to engage with the people of Pakistan and ensure that money meant for Pakistanis is actually spent on them, and the infrastructure they need. This is a break from previous US Govt’. Who have engaged with the Pakistani military and establishment rather than the 180 million people of Pakistan….We salute Hussain Haqqani’s Contribution.
Hussain Haqqani’s most important brief is that he is encouraging the US to put is relationship with Pakistan on a long-term footing – an elusive Pakistani goal almost since the country was created 62 years ago. Haqqani’s top assignments include helping Pakistani officials understand the United States and communicate with Americans, and guiding them through their U.S. visit. Hussain Haqqani’s effort for getting aid from U.S is clear to everyone and rationally everyone knows the importance of this aid . OBL was not a single example in which mess was left to Hussain Hqqani to clear. But earlier the crucial issues like Kerry Lugar Bill and several other issues were amicably tackled by Ambassador Hussain Haqqani. He is playing vital role in keeping Pak-US intact for the betterment of Pakistan.
Hussain Haqqani is toast!!!
A defamatory pictured forged by two great men: A creative artwork by Hussain Haqqani and Sheikh Rasheed when both of them were working in IJI for ISI:
http://crazyopinions.com/__oneclick_uploads/2007/10/bhutto_booty.jpg
There is a great pandemonium of urban fake liberals on Twitter. Their Commander in Chief General Najam Sethi has predicted that Husain Haqqani might soon lose his job.
With friends and mourners like these, HH does not need foes! Do (many of) these patent PPP haters, Zardari phobes add to his credibility?
Some progressive writers too are a part of the Namoos-e-Haqqani Network because of tribal loyalties and socio-economic interests.
It is so hilarious to see known PPP-phobes constipated on Twitter in HH’s sympathy. Those who kept mum on violation of the Namoos of PPP leaders are shedding crocodile tears for the Namoos of Husain Haqqani.
Dear lovers of Iftikhar Chaudhry and Imran Khan, dear closet affiliates of ISI, do you think PPP really needs your advice and sympathies?
NasimZehra Nasim Zehra
Amb HHaqqani represented Pk thru difficult period & worked closely with Pak security institutions.On memo gov not suing FT is trouble 4 HH
anthonypermal Anthony Permal
Fact is – and no offence to anyone – @husainhaqqani brings class to the PPP’s usual crass. @AamnaTaseer @marvisirmed @Razarumi
evo8X8 k
by tammyhaq
hh is the only intelligent man in ppp today.
shobz Shoaib Taimur
IMHO The only great Ambassadors to the US so far have been Dr Maliha Lodhi and Husain Haqqani so far (in this modern era) #pakistan
AliDayan Ali Dayan Hasan
Undisputed Fact: @husainhaqqani has been a strong supporter of human rights of #Pakistanis in DC both as ambassador & before
marvisirmed Marvi Sirmed
RT @akchishti Hussain Haqqani remains a true patriot. He has served #Pakistan by giving 100% even in the toughest of times with honesty.
marvisirmed Marvi Sirmed
Perfect :))) RT @akchishti: So Hussain Haqanni as Senator? #Pakistan
cpyala Cafe Pyala
It should be pointed out that @najamsethi also said that the Mansur Ijaz drama was orchestrated by you know whos of Pakistan.
cpyala Cafe Pyala
@abbasnasir59 That Mansur Ijaz gave ISI the info that implicated HH, that GenK has now demanded HH be removed, that HH will go in few days.
tammyhaq Ayesha Tammy Haq
@abbasnasir59 they want to decide who should be ambassador and who shouldn’t. Wonder if the president will agree
SamadK Samad Khurram
@cpyala @abbasnasir59 @tammyhaq Zardari should give a big slap to everyone else by giving @husainhaqqani an extension.
mazdaki Mohammad Taqi
Lets face it, after Benazir passed @husainhaqqani is the foremost Pakistani consistently standing up for civilian supremacy over military
Razarumi Raza Rumi
@dasghar Pakistan’s powerhouse cannot cohabit with the extraordinary calibre of @husainhaqqani. They have been gunning for him from day one!
cpyala Cafe Pyala
@SamadK Don’t think he’s in any position to slap anyone. Let’s be realistic. @abbasnasir59 @tammyhaq @husainhaqqani
tammyhaq Ayesha Tammy Haq
@cpyala so r u suggesting that the establishment will win & @husainhaqqani will be removed? Two cheers for democracy @samadk @abbasnasir59
cpyala Cafe Pyala
@tammyhaq Yes. Am suggesting that when you have a guilty conscience, diffic to take a moral stand. @samadk @abbasnasir59
@tammyhaq
Ayesha Tammy Haq
@cpyala guilty conscience? @samadk @abbasnasir59
cpyala Cafe Pyala
@tammyhaq Gambled. Got caught spot fixing. Mazhar Majeed ratted them out 🙂 @samadk @abbasnasir59
tammyhaq Ayesha Tammy Haq
@cpyala 🙂 can’t see prez pushing him out though @samadk @abbasnasir59
husainhaqqani Husain Haqqani
by tammyhaq
Thank you all for the outpouring of support & concern. I am at work & will continue 2 serve #Pakistan.
tammyhaq Ayesha Tammy Haq
Yes gd idea “@SamadK: @cpyala @abbasnasir59 @tammyhaq Zardari should give a big slap 2 every1 else by giving @husainhaqqani an extension.”
evo8X8 k
by tammyhaq
hh is the only intelligent man in ppp today.
Umers Umer Zamir Shah
by tammyhaq@
@tammyhaq @husainhaqqani ,seems like they want someone like commando Musharaf as US Ambassador!Civilians r just not patriots enough for them
tammyhaq Ayesha Tammy Haq
@KamranShafi46 @mazdaki we all need to remind the establishment the the Haqqanis they want are in the tribal areas not DC
cpyala Cafe Pyala
by tammyhaq
Najam Sethi has openly announced today why @husainhaqqani is on his way out (Hint: Mansur Ijaz). Just to point out that There will be a post SOON about why we had a strong hunch there was more to the Mansur Ijaz saga that met the eye.
tammyhaq Ayesha Tammy Haq
@
@jalalhussain well let’s cancel that one we don’t want them to do anything but defend r frontiers leave foreign policy alone @husainhaqqani
1 hour ago Favorite Retweet Reply
tammyhaq Ayesha Tammy Haq
@
@shobz they want to continue to run the country just wish they would do their jobs and let @husainhaqqani do his
1 hour ago
tammyhaq Ayesha Tammy Haq
@
@evo8X8 #Geo @cpyala @husainhaqqani
1 hour ago
tammyhaq Ayesha Tammy Haq
Looks like our establishment doesn’t want an ambassador who works for the democratic government but one that works for them @husainhaqqani
1 hour ago
cpyala Cafe Pyala
by tammyhaq
Think the army misunderstood which ‘Haqqani Network’ the US wanted action on. @husainhaqqani’s current job may be history soon.
tammyhaq Ayesha Tammy Haq
WORD “@SamadK: @tammyhaq Clearly interested in the wrong Haqqanis. @husainhaqqani”
tammyhaq Ayesha Tammy Haq
when did we agree that it was ok 4 #ISI 2 decide who shd b ambassador & 4 how long? @husainhaqqani can only b appointed removed by dem govt
abbasnasir59 Abbas Nasir
@tammyhaq I doubt the PTI jalsa wld’ve so weakened AZ he’d succumb to pressure. He’ll indict himself if he sacks HH anyway. @cpyala @samadk
abbasnasir59 Abbas Nasir
@cpyala Thanks. Is that why Kayani met Prez today. Haqqani wasn’t acting on his own, was he? If all this is true and not more disinfo.
RiazToori Riaz Ali Toori
Praying 4 ur more strength Rt @husainhaqqani Thank u all fr d outpouring of support & concern. I’m at work & will continue 2 serve #Pakistan
TarekFatah Tarek Fatah
@dhume01 @husainhaqqani This is an attempt by the #Pakistan Army & ISI to undermine the authority of the elected democratic government.
HumaImtiaz Huma Imtiaz
@cpyala Since I woke up really late to this Mansoor Ejaz story, is there buzz on who new amb would be if HH gets sacked?
TarekFatah Tarek Fatah
#Pakistan Army flexes muscle: Demands removal of @husainhaqqani ambassador to US. Instead, Generals with links to #Taliban should go.
newpakistan New Pakistan
With the Americans taking such a critical view of #Pakistan, seems like we would want someone like @husainhaqqani in DC. 1/2 You can’t play good cop-bad cop without a good cop. And bad cop-bad cop is a losing strategy. 2/2
newpakistan New Pakistan
Also true MT @Jamash a lot of times @najamsethi said things which never turned out the way he said they would
anthonypermal Anthony Permal
Not stupid, ridiculous at such a time! Cannot swap HH’s integrity for someone else’s chamchagiri @jehan_ara @husainhaqqani @tammyhaq @shobz
jehan_ara jehan_ara
I think it would be really stupid to remove @husainhaqqani as Ambassador to the US. How does @najamsethi know this? @tammyhaq @shobz
1 hour ago Favorite Retweet Reply
mazdaki Mohammad Taqi
MT“@ArifMaryam: @husainhaqqani since when does the army get to decide who should be ambassador?!” Army bluffing again – must be called out
SamadK Samad Khurram
@abbasnasir59 @tammyhaq @cpyala Is it really the Mansoor Ijaz story that’s triggering it? He’s known to be shady – linked Iraq with Osama!
beenasarwar beena sarwar
@husainhaqqani Was there a doubt? What did I miss?
BinaShah Bina Shah
Visited NYC Consulate, impressed with efficiency when I applied for new NIC. Kudos to @husainhaqqani for his hard work & dedication.
ahraza_ Agha Haider Raza
@FiveRupees @husainhaqqani way back in October 08 – The Nation had given HH 48 hours; stating Maliha Lodhi was to become new head of mission
3 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply
FiveRupees Five Rupees
Am highly skeptical of news/rumors that @husainhaqqani is about to lose his job bit.ly/t9Bcuy Heard this stuff before. Let’s see.
fifiharoon Fifi Haroon
Am sure @cpyala will dig up the real story on Mansur Ijaz. Certainly most of r mainstream media r content with reiterating the scandal
shobz Shoaib Taimur
@Razarumi are they so petty that they want to get rid of HH?
Razarumi Raza Rumi
Let’s hope not. But @najamsethi would not have discussed if it was not that serious RT @shobz:they so petty that they want to get rid of HH?
shobz Shoaib Taimur
@tammyhaq @Razarumi do they really think they can send a better ambassador? @husainhaqqani is A-Grade material.
tammyhaq Ayesha Tammy Haq
@Razarumi yes but as Prez set example not 2 a day 2 feed in2 superstition – Isloo where the Prez is Prez & the goats r afraid @shakirhusain
anthonypermal Anthony Permal
Fact is – and no offence to anyone – @husainhaqqani brings class to the PPP’s usual crass. @AamnaTaseer @marvisirmed @Razarumi
AamnaTaseer Aamna Taseer
@marvisirmed @Razarumi not many could match up to Ambassador @husainhaqqani He is in a league of his own. Makes a tough job look simple.
If known Zardari-phobes Tammy Haq, Abbas Nasir, Cafe Jhangvi, Samad Khurram etc are supporting him, HH is clearly in wrong company!!!
یہ چمن یونہی رہے گا اور ہزاروں جانور
اپنی اپنی بولیاں سب بول کر اڑ جائیں گے
غلام بھاگتے پھرتے ہیں مشعلیں لے کر
محل پہ ٹوٹنے والا ہو آسماں جیسے
Top military brass’ absence from Prez event sparks speculation
Press Trust Of India
Islamabad, November 15, 2011
Pakistan’s top four military officials, including powerful army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, were absent from a state banquet hosted by President Asif Ali Zardari, triggering speculation about unease in ties between the government and the military. The three service chiefs and the
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee were not among the guests at the reception and banquet hosted by Zardari for his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov at the presidency yesterday.
The presence or absence of the top military leadership at events organised by the civilian government is closely tracked by the media and political circles, as it is considered a reflection of the state of relations between the military and the government.
The absence of the military leaders at the banquet was reported by several TV news channels on Tuesday.
One channel quoted its sources as saying that an inquiry had been ordered to ascertain why the service chiefs did not attend the reception hosted by the President.
In a brief statement, the Inter-Services Public Relations said: “They did not attend because they were not invited to attend.” The statement did not give details.
However, officials pointed out that Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee chairman Gen Khalid Shameem Wynne and the air force chief, Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman, were currently in the United Arab Emirates to attend the Dubai Air Show.
Army chief Gen Kayani, who was in Rawalpindi, did not attend the banquet as he was not in the country at the time when invitations were sent out for the banquet, the officials told the media.
The News daily too quoted its sources in the presidency as saying that Kayani was not invited because he was out of the country when the invitations were extended.
Navy chief Admiral Asif Sandila did not attend the banquet though he was in Lahore yesterday.
A source told The News that protocol officials of the presidency informed Sandila that “in the absence of the other chiefs, he should not turn up at the banquet”.
Defence minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar too did not attend the banquet for unknown reasons.
In its report, The News said: “Cynics draw their own conclusions with a ‘doomsday scenario’ for the present rulers because of their unconfirmed tiff with powerful institutions, while saner elements say that some people are trying to ‘make an issue out of nothing’.”
A similar situation occurred in early 1999 during the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s visit to Pakistan, when no service chief was present to welcome him despite his counterpart Nawaz Sharif’s directives that they make an appearance.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/Pakistan/Top-military-brass-absence-from-Prez-event-sparks-speculation/Article1-769419.aspx
Zardari Sensing Trouble, meets General Kayani & US Ambassador & Called Husain Haqqani to Islamabad
#MansoorEjaz hands over his BB record to agencies – AZ summons Hussain Haqqani on a matter of urgency youtu.be/ZCLNShaIyWs #Alarming
Aaj Kamran Khan ke sath
http://youtu.be/ZCLNShaIyWs
Najam Sethi: Aapas Ki Baat – 15th November 2011 – Mansoor Ijaz ka Dawa—-Aapas ki Baat kia hai?? http://fun.ly/14beh
dhume01 Sadanand Dhume
Video (Urdu): @najamsethi on L’affaire Mansoor Ijaz | Wheels within wheels within wheels. zemtv.com/2011/11/16/aap… via @walitirmizi #Pakistan
………….
xulfii zulfiqar haider
downfall of current democratic govt. has been started…#HussainHaqqani is gonna be used as tool by #ISI n #ARMY.
shahbazzahid Shahbaz Zahid
If you don’t know this – Hussain Haqqani was the president of Islami Jamiat Taliba in his college days – National college #Karachi
Mansoor Ijaz is the same person whom Hamid Mir referred to as dubious in this conversation with a Punjabi Talib.
ISI / military establishment is always unhappy with Mansoor Ijaz.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NDn5YjkAnY&feature=youtu.be
The mysterious man and the secret memo controversy
by HAMID MIR
ISLAMABAD: Once again Islamabad is ripe with rumours that the PPP-led coalition government might not survive till March 2012 but President Asif Ali Zardari is not worried. He does not see any “extra-constitutional” threat to his government because he thinks there is no reason for the Army to take over. He recently told his friends that the political government and Army leaders have no differences over issues relating to foreign policy and security but even then some diehard critics say the countdown has begun.
The rumours spread fast after the publication of an article in the Financial Times by Mansoor Ejaz who claimed President Zardari had sent a secret memo to the White House through Admiral Mike Mullen immediately after the killing of Osama bin Laden in the Abbottabad operation on May 2. President Zardari allegedly informed the US officials that his government was under threat from the Army and the US must stop General Kayani from taking over. According to the article President Zardari also promised to make some major changes in the Army and ISI leadership.
Many opposition politicians raised questions about the alleged secret memo when this article was published but the Presidency remained silent. Many friends and colleagues advised President Zardari to issue a contradiction but he said: “let them spread the dirt for some days; we must know who is friend and who is foe?” Farhatullah Babar, the presidential spokesman, informally contradicted Mansoor Ejaz’s claim but he was not ready to say anything on the record. One intelligence agency informed the government that this “memo controversy” was part of an international conspiracy to create differences between political and military leadership of Pakistan.
In the meantime US secretary of state Hillary Clinton during her recent visit met a group of journalists in Islamabad. One of our colleagues Mazhar Abbas asked her about the secret memo but she neither contradicted nor confirmed. Her careful response was a bombshell for many in the government. More articles with more speculations started appearing in the Pakistani media. Rumourmongers confused many seasoned politicians. One federal minister from a coalition party decided to speak against his own government in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. That was when the Foreign Office decided to issue a formal contradiction. Next day the President’s spokesperson also broke his silence on the issue and said that “Mansoor Ejaz’s allegation is nothing more than a desperate bid by an individual whom recognition and credibility has eluded, to seek media attention through concocted stories”.
Farhatullah Babar further said: “why would the President of Pakistan choose a private person of questionable credentials to carry a letter to US officials? Since when Mansoor has become a courier of messages of the President of Pakistan?” He recalled that 16 years ago during the visit of late Benazir Bhutto to US Mansoor Ejaz wanted to see her. Farhatullah Babar was press secretary to the PM at that time. He mentioned the name of Mansoor to Benazir Bhutto and she said: “Mansoor is not to be trusted”. Late Benazir Bhutto advised her Press Secretary to “stay away from Mansoor Ejaz” but he never mentioned these words in his denial issued on October 29.
Mansoor Ejaz also issued a statement in response in which he said: “I have the facts, all the facts. Every word I say or write is backed with hard evidence and proof. Challenging me on that would be a grave mistake” since “the evidence is crystal clear”. Background interviews with well-informed officials in Islamabad and conversations with top Pakistani diplomats in Washington and London revealed some more information.
This is not the first time Mansoor Ejaz has created a problem for the PPP government. He did so in 1995 when tried to meet Benazir Bhutto through Zafar Hilali who was then working with the prime minister. He informed Hilali that Yusuf Haroon was hatching a conspiracy against the government with the help of some Army officials. Hilali asked him to write all these things in black and white. Mansoor Ejaz wrote a letter to Benazir Bhutto on June 29, 1995 claiming that the then Director General of Military Intelligence Ali Quli Khan was hatching a conspiracy to overthrow her government with the help of Yusuf Haroon. He offered his services for lobbying in the US Congress. He also proposed that Pakistan must recognise Israel and US will write off all its foreign debt. Benazir Bhutto spoke to Army chief General Abdul Waheed Kakar and informed him about the allegations made by Mansoor Ejaz against General Ali Quli Khan. Kakar initiated an inquiry but nothing was proved. After some weeks Ali Quli Khan reported to Kakar about a coup plan made by some hardliners and arrested many officers including a Major General. A few months later Benazir Bhutto visited New York to address the UN General Assembly. This writer was part of the delegation as a journalist. Mansoor Ejaz tried to meet Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari. She not only refused to meet him she even advised the journalists accompanying her “never to meet this person”.
Mansoor Ejaz claims he persuaded US Vice President Al Gore to say that a military coup against democratic government will not be accepted. Al Gore said this in a reception organised by a Pakistani-American Rashid Chaudhry in Washington. Rashid Chaudhry has requested Benazir Bhutto not to send the former ambassador to that reception but someone more trust-worthy. She sent Wajid Shamsul Hasan. Mansoor Ejaz met Wajid Shamsul Hasan but the latter told Benazir Bhutto “we must not trust him”. Mansoor Ejaz tried to become a lobbyist for Pakistan but the then Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington, Maleeha Lodhi, raised many questions about his credibility and then Mansoor Ejaz started writing articles against Benazir Bhutto in the Wall Street Journal. Benazir Bhutto said privately many times in those days that he was a double agent working for Israel and also for some people in the ISI.
In October 1996 the Pakistan Embassy in Washington accused Mansoor Ejaz of writing against the PPP government because he was denied 15 million dollars he had demanded to deliver votes in the US House of Representatives in support of the Brown Amendment. The embassy also said that Mansoor Ejaz had been pushing the PPP government to recognise Israel and he himself visited Israel on several occasions, once on the invitation of Jerusalem’s mayor. The embassy mentioned that he was given ‘humanitarian of the year’ award by a major Jewish organisation “for establishing clinics and schools in Belgium and in many parts of the Eastern Europe for the Jewish communities. Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN Ahmad Kamal was close to Mansoor Ejaz but then Foreign Secretary Najmudin Sheikh addressed a press conference against him and declared his articles “vindictive and without credibility”.
After the dismissal of Benazir Bhutto’s government by President Farooq Leghari in November 1996 Mansoor Ejaz became very close to some ministers of the Nawaz Sharif government, which was installed in 1997. He even claimed to act as a middleman between US and Sudan and then between Pakistan and India in 2000 on behalf of US President Bill Clinton. He visited the Indian Army headquarters in Srinagar and then came to Islamabad for a meeting with the ISI officials who ignored him but one day he was able to informally meet General Pervez Musharraf through his mother. He entered in Army House to meet Musharraf’s mother but succeeded in having a brief chitchat with the military dictator. Musharraf at that time was diplomatically isolated ruler but he too never trusted Mansoor Ejaz due to his close links with some PML-N leaders. After meeting Musharraf he met Hizbul Mujahedeen chief Syed Salahudin in Islamabad through a Jamat-e-Islami leader and tried to deliver him an alleged letter from US President Bill Clinton but the Kashmiri militant leader never accepted that letter. Mansoor tried to give an impression to both Islamabad and Delhi that he was an unofficial negotiator of President Clinton. When the Indian government approached Washington about the credentials of Mansoor Ejaz some senior Clinton administration officials clarified publicly that Mansoor Ejaz was not given any mandate to act as a negotiator in the Kashmir dispute.
After 9/11 Mansoor Ejaz tried to interact with both CIA and Taliban. He sent messages to Taliban through a retired ISI official and offered his services for mediation between Taliban and the US but his efforts never materialised because Taliban were not ready to hand over Osama bin Laden to US. After the change of command in the ISI the new DG ISI General Ehsanul Haq denied him access to all the government circles. He tried to become partner of a newspaper owner but failed. He remained silent for many years and then wrote an article in the Christian Science Monitor after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto on December 28, 2007 in which he said: “I knew Benazir Bhutto well. I am often blamed by her supporters for having helped bring her government down in 1996 by exposing her hypocrisy and corruption in two Wall Street Journal Op-Ed pieces”. His words raise the question that how can President Asif Ali Zardari trust him and why would he send a secret memo through a person who wrote against him and his wife many times? It is obvious now that President Zardari neither met him recently nor spoke to him on telephone. Mansoor Ejaz is claiming that one top diplomat was instrumental in the making of the alleged memo and he can prove that whatever he wrote in the memo was approved by the top diplomat.
PTI Chief Imran Khan claimed in the Lahore rally that it was Pakistan Ambassador in US Hussain Haqqani who gave this memo to Mansoor Ejaz. Hussain Haqqani denies that. He says that when he can talk to Admiral Mike Mullen directly why would he use a person like Mansoor Ejaz to send a secret memo? Some government sources suspected that maybe Mansoor Ejaz had spoken to Ambassador Haqqani on phone after the May 2 incident and recorded his conversation with him but he cannot present that recording as evidence because it is an offence under the US law. These sources accuse the PML-N of being part of the conspiracy because some PML-N leaders enjoy friendly relations with Mansoor Ejaz sine late 90’s.
Sources close to Mansoor Ejaz claim that the PPP government is inviting big trouble by denying the memo. They say Mansoor Ejaz is an American citizen and he would not like to be involved in Pakistani politics but he is ready to produce the evidence in any Pakistani court of law if required. Mansoor Ejaz is playing with the fourth Pakistani government in the last 16 years. It seems that someone tried to play with someone through Mansoor Ejaz but this clever person has created a big trouble for a small-time power player. President Zardari may not lose anything in this whole controversy but Mansoor Ejaz is capable of destroying the credibility of the diplomat who spoke to him on phone or sent him some email.
One PPP insider claimed that Mansoor Ejaz has special hatred for PPP. He belongs to a sect that was declared non-Muslim by the Pakistani Parliament when Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was the prime minister. That is why he has always tried to punish PPP through his conspiracies. The insider claimed that President Zardari has no problem with General Kayani. President Zardari wrote an article in Washington Post on May 3, 2011 and defended his intelligence agencies by saying “a decade of cooperation and partnership between the US and Pakistan led up to the elimination of Osama bin Laden and we in Pakistan take some satisfaction that our early assistance in identifying an Al Qaeda courier ultimately led to this day”.
After five months President Zardari again wrote in Washington Post on October 1 and said: “must we fight alone in our region all those that others now seek to embrace? And how long can we degrade our capacity by fighting an enemy that the might of NATO’s global coalition has failed to eliminate?” PPP sources insisted that Mansoor Ejaz tried to create differences between army and the president and also tried to create misunderstanding between Pakistan and US but he has miserably failed. The PPP leaders play down the delay in contradicting the alleged secret memo from President Zardari to President Obama. But this delay was not a mistake but a blunder, which forced many in Pakistan to believe that the secret memo was true.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=10015&Cat=13
…………
In Urdu
http://e.jang.com.pk/11-02-2011/Karachi/images/1014.gif
Probe into memo issue under way, Zardari tells Kayani
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
ISLAMABAD: Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Tuesday called on President Asif Ali Zardari at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.
Sources said the army chief conveyed the reservations of military circles over a letter sent to former US army chief Admiral Mike Mullen through a US businessman of Pakistani origin, Mansoor Ijaz, with the help of a top ambassador.
“Security officials have conducted a probe on their own, and Mansoor Ijaz’s claim seems right in the light of their probe,” the sources added. They said President Zardari told the army chief that the presidency and the Foreign Office had rejected this letter and believed that the purpose of this letter is to create misunderstandings between political and military leaderships. He, however, told the army chief that the government was conducting complete probe into the memo issue.
The current security situation and professional matters pertaining to Pakistan Army were also discussed in the meeting. The army chief briefed President Zardari about geo-strategic situation, situation on the border and fight against militancy in Fata. — INP
Asim Yasin adds: Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani called on President Asif Ali Zardari. A one-liner statement issued after the meeting from the presidency stated the matters concerning national security were discussed. No further details of meeting that lasted for one hour were issued.
Later, US Ambassador Cameron Phelps Munter also called on President Zardari at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Tuesday night. The Pak-US bilateral relations were discussed in the meeting. Separately, President Zardari assured the complete support to National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza, while appreciating her role as a custodian of the lower house of the parliament and running the house impartially.
Matters relating to the parliamentary business were discussed during the meeting. President Zardari later hosted a dinner for the National Assembly speaker. According to sources, during the meeting, President Zardari assured the maximum provision of the security to the speaker.
Prior to meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari, sources said Interior Minister Rehman Malik also held a meeting with Fehmida Mirza that lasted for one hour and a half in which he assured security to the speaker.
The sources said the resignation of former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi also came under discussion as his resignation had been received in the National Assembly secretariat on Tuesday. Fehmida Mirza told the president that she run the house while putting all the politics on one side but as a custodian of the house with neutrality.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=10315&Cat=13
The memo returns
Mohammad Malick
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
The writer is editor The News, Islamabad.
Kids clasped their hands in tense excitement as events unfolded in the popular Brendan Fraser starrer, The Mummy Returns. An even larger number of informed adults in the twin cities are experiencing a somewhat similar anxiety as the memo returns. Just like the movie character Imhotep, this darn memo too refuses to melt away. He may be controversial, spreading half-truths or whole lies, but Mansoor Ejaz’s smoking-memo has silently morphed into a smouldering fuse, with the potential to ignite the powder keg already threatened by a string of recent unsettling political developments, and many more appearing on the horizon.
Mansoor struck back hard at his detractors in Sana Bucha’s brilliantly incisive interview on Geo News. But even before this interview, Mansoor had already released to the media some damning evidence in the form of BlackBerry messages (BBMs) and emails, exchanged between him and the yet unnamed top Pakistani diplomat (The News, November 12). Though unnamed, virtually everyone in the power corridors knows the identity of this top non-career diplomat.
In his TV interview, Mansoor, not only dared his ‘officious detractors’ to sue him but also committed to appear, along with all forensic evidence, before a proper Pakistani investigative forum, including a parliamentary committee and the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Mansoor further told (details of that meeting were revealed in my earlier column) that he had shared all evidence with a very important official from Pakistan. As for the illogical logic of using an interlocutor with credibility issues, he retorted, “…for the very purpose of plausible deniability”. The man does have a point here. What better choice for a messenger in such cloak and dagger style diplomacy than a potential whistle blower with a controversial past? Destroy the message by destroying the credibility of the messenger. Indeed a brilliant tactical move. Only this time around, the extrovert controversial interlocutor surprised everyone by keeping tidy records of the untidy doings.
The quiet offer of the unnamed diplomat’s head has already been rebuffed because according to the institutional view the issue is far more serious than that of merely one person or the taming of a couple of vaulting ambitions. It pertains to the future safety of the state itself. The relevant quarters have apparently also conveyed that it’s time-up for meaningless denials and is time to come clean. It’s time to thoroughly investigate the matter. (Hopefully the one-on-one meeting between President Zardari and Army Chief Kayani touched the subject). And damn these politicians for not letting the sleeping dogs lie either. If earlier Imran Khan wanted a thorough probe into the matter, on Monday evening, a fuming Shah Mehmood Qureshi wanted the government to either come clean on the matter or else sue Mansoor for spreading such preposterous lies. He even implored the CJ to go suo motu on this one. As for taking such ‘ridiculous’ sounding claims seriously, the former foreign minister should definitely know a thing or two about the different shades of conspiratorial diplomacy.
But all said and done, there are only two sides to this memo controversy: Mansoor is either telling the truth, or he is lying. It is as simple as that. No rocket science here. If he is telling the truth then we are looking at elements of treason, endangering of country’s nuclear safety, bartering of national sovereignty and the list gets dirtier and more alarming. It needs to be investigated. On the other hand, if he is lying then he must be sued by the Pakistan government for his last penny and made an unsavoury example. The same must be the approach towards the Financial Times. But so far, all we have seen are some inexplicably delayed and grudging denials (which too had to be forced out by a pestering media) by Pakistan’s Foreign Office, the presidency and the prime minister’s office, while the ISPR is maintaining an ominous silence over an issue with direct ramifications for the army itself. Is it a silence spawned by ignorance of facts, or sired by too much knowledge? According to a highly informed individual, Islamabad also tried prevailing upon Rawalpindi to force the ISPR into publically shooting down the Mansoor-drone. The ISPR’s continued silence however speaks loudly of the prevailing state of affairs.
While Imran Khan has hogged the media’s attention and the peoples’ fascination for the past few days, more serious elements remain focused elsewhere. That the memo can continue to be shrugged off and ‘officially’ ignored is no longer an option for the Islamabad officialdom. The ‘very important person’ that Mansoor alluded to, has done his own checking and rechecking and apparently Mansoor’s claims are not entirely a figment of a colourful imagination. To be fair to President Zardari however, it is not known with any certainty whether he even knew about this memo; initiated it himself, or was convinced (or conned) into authorising this initiative. But we should soon be crossing this bridge as well, because from what I hear an all-important epistle may soon be landing on his table to order a formal enquiry into the affair so that at least official institutions, even if not the general public, should know the exact facts. And the political leadership would be well advised to do so because in such cases, wrong perceptions can prove far more harmful than even the deadliest of realities. And doing so is not that complicated a task either and simply answering ‘36 questions’ or so should settle the matter once and for all.
The talk of “inviting” – that’s how it was put by a smiling top gun – the unnamed top Pakistani official back home to explain and clarify the matter has already come true but nobody really expects him to turn up on this dinner invitation as the gentleman has a keen survival instinct and having remained a part of the establishment for years is conversant with the institutional thought process. His not turning up could well be taken as his tacit acceptance of touted facts and an implied validation of Mansoor’s version of events. The course of action chosen by the political leadership in such a likely eventuality would therefore be of immense significance and a development warranting close scrutiny. If he turns up some straight talking can and should be expected.
The nonchalant façade notwithstanding, the critical implications of this matter are not lost on the ruling dispensation. It would be naïve for anyone to believe that premier Gilani’s sudden concerns about unconstitutional threats to the system have been caused solely by a massive Imran Khan rally in Lahore. He has started airing his ‘constitutional and democratic’ worries because he is aware of the public fallout of the private doings of the members of his administration.
The charge of the government conspiring against the state itself is no laughing matter and when the timing coincides with a resurgent opposition, the smiles tend to disappear altogether. The prospect of the PML-N resigning en-masse from national and provincial assemblies within the next 60-90 days (most probably in January) and then going the popular-agitation route is getting stronger by the day. Imran is riding the wave too and adding to his political and street muscle at a steroid pace. The economy is in shambles, the people desperate. Political instability is peaking far too sharply.
Anything can happen at any time. One spark can ignite the keg. The government is about to be hit by a political blizzard in the coming weeks. All the elements appear to be falling into place. The government must stop stonewalling the explosive issue with fatal consequences. For the country and democracy to coexist, the people must know the truth. The question is, can the government afford telling it?
Email: mohammad.malick1@gmail.com
http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=77746&Cat=9
How many governments have fallen on the write-ups in Financial Times – None. The cooking takes place in Pentagon and Whitehouse. What comes in the shape of articles are mere speculations. Of course, the corrupt media (internationally) plays the dirty game of flying feelers on the behest of some game plan on the upper level. It is difficult to differentiate if a write up is a part of a game plan or mere a solo flight.
In the case of Mansoor Ijaz, this Pakistani-American is the international version of our local “hero” (late) Khalid Khwaja. His name is associated with Khalid Khwaja in the efforts to get release of ill-fated Daniel Pearl (American journalist but Israeli Jew). He appeared to be staunch supporter of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto when he gave the tips through Pentagon that her government was going to be toppled through Nawaz Sharif- ISI espionage. Benazir Bhutto foiled the attempt of no confidence move when timely informed. But he went all out against Benazir and PPP when nothing was given to him in return. He blackmailed Maleeha Lodhi (the then ambassador in Washington) for a donation of US$:1.5 million for the then forthcoming American Presidential Election. When Maleeha refused he came up with the stories that Maleeha was not interested in Brown’s amendment (F16s) just because her brother is taking the booty in Mirage purchase. His name is also associated with Mumbai bombing. It is said, he had visited Srinagar and Islamabad and returning back he informed Pentagon a religious group was being trained for Mumbai attack. US Intelligence still boasts they had warned Indian government six months before this actually happened. In the case in question, what is on record. A memorandum in Ijaz’s own handwriting which Admiral Mike Mullen denies and government of Pakistan denies. But media of Pakistan has got another hot sensational topic to pursuade the readers and watchers that Zardari is going and sure going. This they are doing for the last three years on one pretext or the other. Gen. Perwaiz Kayani met Asif Zardari – this is news. After that fiction starts big time about the exchanged verbatim. Period.
Even for argument sake, it is presumed that Asif Zardari did send the memo (which seems unlikely, because under international relations etiquette it should have been sent to Obama and not to Mullen). So what? Have not we read Wikileak in which the same message was wired by American Ambassador then to Pakistan. Nothing happened after that. But we should not close our eyes, a big game has already started in Pakistan in the person of Imran Khan. Old king makers are again active big time. But nothing adverse would happen if Judiciary is alive, media is alive and on top of it the massess are alive.
Obituary of a Democrat
by Ayesha Siddiqa
May 2010
HH will be remembered for his services to Pakistan’s democracy. His voice is missed in today’s Washington, DC and its academic circles. Indeed, HH was in American capital speaking for democratic forces at a time when no one would commit themselves to speaking out for what Pakistan and its people deserve. I still cannot forget the evenings in 2004-05 when HH had still not managed to elevate himself to the position of an ambassador and was engaged in writing his seminal work on Pakistan’s military and its links with the militants. Artfully, he would utter poetic verses of famous Urdu poets punctuated by theoretical jargon to explain how he arrived at his important conclusion that the army was in bed with the Taliban and jihadis. Of course, HH is a man of monologues, but in the company of veteran journalist Khalid Hassan, he would often give others the chance to speak. Probably, the art of creating a dialogue belonged to KH rather than HH. At that time in history, HH seemed like a person close to unearthing a treasure which, indeed, his book turned out to be. “Pakistan – Mosque to Military” is a seminal work which may not be produced again, especially not by him. The smooth prose, the readability of the narrative and the facts provided in those pages make the book more than just and account of what Pakistan’s military had done to the country. The organization, as HH pointed out, had since long been engaged with religious zealots and used them to fight its battles.
HH believed that his work would contribute to the struggle by democratic forces to push back the dictatorial dispensation of General Pervez Musharraf. HH had happily embraced the Pakistan People’s Party’s victory in the 2008 elections as the great success of democracy. For him, Benazir Bhutto’s death in December 2007 did not matter since the ultimate joy was that she had managed to make her party transit to democracy. This is what HH and many of his friends in Pakistan and in the US called transition to democracy. I remember meeting him on February 19th 2008 for the recording of Shehryar Azhar’s program for ARY on the post-election scenario in Pakistan (if Husein was the prophet of transitional politics Azhar was his Khalifa. Between the two it was claimed that elections represented the change Pakjistan was waiting for). During that meeting Husein thumped his own back and chest claiming that his predictions had indeed come true – Benazir Bhutto managed to force Musharraf to shed his uniform and win the elections. It didn’t matter for the ambassador that she had paid with her own life for this transition to happen.
Later, HH became the great ambassador of this transitional democracy. It didn’t matter that the structural problems in Pakistan’s politics continued such as the excessive power of the military, the comparative weakness of political institutions and myopia of the combined civil-military ruling elite of the country. The plan was to use American pressure to push back the military in Pakistan. One worried for the life and security of this diplomatic cow-boy especially after the GHQ in Rawalpindi managed to get rid of its own child General Mehmoud Ali Durrani as National Security Advisor. The Kerry-Lugar bill was the high point of HH – the democrat. This was the best he could achive. But it also invoked the wrath of the top brass. The GHQ was extremely upset and made sure it overturned the famous ‘transition to democracy’. Besides other measures, HH’s franchise for marketing Pakistan’s democratic forces in the US was seriously threatened by GHQ’s shadow ambassadors in Washington. One is a professional turncoat female diplomat and the other is a relative of an army chief-turned-author. Both are assisted in the US capital, albeit indirectly, by several menial researchers of Pakistani and American descent. The entire team of head honchos and menials combined tries to change American minds and convince them that military is the best thing which has happened to Pakistan. Given that most want to be ambassador in Washington, DC their loyalty to the GHQ and efficiency in marketing the khakis cannot be underestimated. While the lady continues to be busy cultivating relations in Washington so that she could take the most coveted position at some future date, the gent has also emerged as a wannabe. He even got a defense-analyst-for-hire reputed as one of many military’s trumpets to write op-eds suggesting that the wannabe should be made the ambassador instead. The military trumpet, who is reputed to pimp for the GHQ, US government and many others depending on who can pay a good price was even invited to an American think tank by the gent as a reward for writing a favorable article. Surely, the lady was not happy with such a move. The said gent spends all his time pontificating about the influence and stability of the military in Pakistan. At the US think-tank the trumpet spoke about turning Islamabad into Dhaka.
Suddenly, the skies of American capital city seemed full of vultures hovering around to search the dead body of a diplomat they could chew on. Things became extremely dramatic as it was a matter of survival. For our friend HH, the choice was between killing the democrat to save the diplomat or vise versa. Obviously, the choice was to save the diplomat which was the logical thing to do in a Washington DC where policymakers and the human-terrain type academics stick to a set recipe for democracy out of the political cookbook. HH the diplomat could hear the sound of the boots marching to Washington and it was best to put the democrat to sleep. And so one evening those present at the occasion of the reception hosted at the Pakistan embassy, Washington, DC in honor of the foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and General Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani also witnessed the funeral of Husein the democrat.
Those of us, who care about democracy and politics in Pakistan, will remember the man for his services. He was a charming salesman whose presence will be missed in Washington where there is now hardly anyone to sing a song of and for the democratic forces in Pakistan. The vultures are still hovering above searching for bits and pieces of flesh and bones of the democrat. The spirit will probably be in some pain at the moment but will soon vanish from where it may not be recalled.
The services of HH the democrat will always be remembered. May his soul rest in peace.
Posted by Ayesha Siddiqa
http://ayeshasiddiqa.blogspot.com/2010/05/obituary-of-democrat.html
comments:
Hossp said…
A good one.
But HH has a history of opportunism…
May 12, 2010 5:59 PM
Ayesha Siddiqa said…
It is still sad that he is unable to defend democracy and is now with the khakis
May 12, 2010 8:38 PM
Clearly shows whose constipated!!!
hahaha
You should also include Tarek Fatah as another member of Namoos-e-Haqqani-Netowrk in your post:
Tarek writes:
————–
Both Admiral Mullen and Islamabad denied that any such back door diplomacy had taken place, but the denials could not put out the fire. What was ostensibly written as a critique of Pakistan’s jihadi extremists in fact turned out to have the exact opposite effect. In a country where anti-Americanism is rife, the elected civilian government was made out to appear as lackeys of the U.S.
Could the writer have intended to weaken the government and strengthen the military? Mansoor Ijaz is not new to controversy. According to the International Herald Tribune‘s Pakistan edition, “a deeper look into Ijaz’s background provides evidence that this hasn’t been the first time the influential businessman has raised controversy concerning his alleged role as a secret international diplomat.”
The IHT discloses that :
“In 1996, he was accused of trying to extort money from the Pakistani government in exchange for delivering votes in the US House of Representatives on a Pakistan-related trade provision. Ijaz, who runs the firm Crescent Investment Management LLC in New York, has been an interlocutor between U.S. officials and foreign government for years, amid constant accusations of financial conflicts of interest. He reportedly arranged meetings between U.S. officials and former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. He also reportedly gave over $1 million to Democratic politicians in the 1990s and attended Christmas events at former President Bill Clinton’s White House. Ijaz has ties to former CIA Director James Woolsey and his investment firm partner is Reagan administration official James Alan Abrahamson.”
Anywhere else a civilian diplomat warning directly or indirectly against a military coup would not be deemed wrong in itself. But in Pakistan, a civilian Prime Minister was toppled and arrested (Nawaz Sharif, in 1999 by General Musharraf) for simply trying to assert civilian control over the military. Even if Zardari and his diplomat had, as Ijaz claims, asked Ijaz to contact the American government to use its influence against a military coup, there was nothing unlawful or unconstitutional in what he did. But in Pakistan, Ijaz’s claims have provoked circumstances that are threatening at least the sacking of a respected ambassador and possibly undermining civilian rule.
Knowing the workings of Pakistan’s intelligence services, Ijaz’s article could have been part of a plan by the ISI to destabilize Pakistani democracy once again.
———-
Crappppppppppppppp
Having gone through the analytical deconstruction along with the original Ijaz Mansoor-FT article as well as the pieces written by Hamid Mir, Ayesha Siddiqa and Tarek Fatah, one is reminded of a proverbial vernacular saying: kharbooza chhurri pe girre ya chhurri kharboozay per kat-ta hamesha kharbooza hee hai. [roughly translated: whether it’s melon that falls on knife or the knife on melon, it’s always the melon that gets cut.] In this case, it would be too simplistic even to say who of the two – Ijaz or Haqqani – is the melon or knife. More so with the known background/profile of both the gentlemen, who may very well be acting as proxies of one and the same outfit, wittingly or unwittingly. Given the seemingly all-pervasive clout of the Military, Inc., it is no surprise that the knife of Deep State is having another go at the melon of Democracy.
In a telephone interview Wednesday, Ijaz indirectly identified Haqqani and said that he was angry because, he charged, “Husain . . . orchestrated” denials of the memo’s existence by Zardari and Pakistan’s foreign office once Ijaz published his report in the Financial Times. “That was a lie,” Ijaz said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pakistani-ambassador-offers-resignation/2011/11/16/gIQAeN0xSN_story.html
I suggest HH to behave like a man of honor and should accept his act, and should face ths music. Now we must come out from state of denial. I rather appreciate EM for disclosing all this for us to know!!!
Abbas Nasir acting as HH’s spokesman:
The wrong HaqqaniAbbas Nasir | Opinion | From the Newspaper (13 hours ago) Today
IT`S immaterial whether Pakistan`s ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani is still in office when you read these lines.
A more fundamental issue facing us is the one we haven`t been able to resolve for pretty much our entire life as a nation: civil-military relations or more accurately whether in matters of the state the men in khaki have precedence or elected civilian public officials.
All indications are that the country`s military leadership has told the president that nothing short of the ambassador`s head will suffice for his alleged role in `memogate`. In fact, Article 6, which deals with high treason, is also being mentioned in the media.
The military hasn`t talked about Article 6 but this was done by a journalist during a TV programme. Since he appeared to have a window to the military`s thinking on the matter, the statement seemed significant.
Despite military coups and instances of blatant military interference in matters solely in the civilian domain, Article 6 has never been invoked. And this is not counting the use of the infamous Article 58(2)(b), sanctioning legal cover for such interventions.
So much is in the public knowledge about what columnists are calling memogate that there is no point detailing it here. It`s what triggered the controversy after US businessman Mansoor Ijaz`s claim.
He claimed a memo was written at the behest of Husain Haqqani and implicitly approved by President Asif Zardari, in which the Pakistani government sought Washington`s help as it feared a military coup, following the killing of Osama bin Laden in a US forces raid in Abbottabad.There was allegedly also talk of replacing the current military leadership, of pledges to abandon support to all militant groups and also offers of a `transparent` and secure handling of nuclear assets among others.
The memo allegedly written on May 10, a few days after the OBL raid, was addressed to the then US chairman of the joint chiefs Adm Mike Mullen who, till his retirement later in the year, was the main interlocutor in negotiations with the Pakistani military and its chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani.
Husain Haqqani has categorically denied a role in matter as did the government earlier. The military may not have gone on the record, but the historically ominous `rift and coup` rumours and suggestions have started surfacing.
We have the versions of the various parties named in the controversy but don`t have the means to verify any. So, what`s the truth? We can only speculate. In the worst of cases, Ambassador Haqqani tried to be too clever by half, failed and will have to fall on his sword as he couldn`t manage the fallout.
Fallout because Mansoor Ijaz`s `intergalactic ego` (a phrase I borrow from a Tweet) couldn`t handle the denials and being the butt of jokes after he`d `broken` the story (in a few lines) in his long FT.com piece in October this year which itself was largely (and paradoxically) focused on a harsh critique of the Pakistani military and its agencies.
In the best-case scenario for the ambassador, memogate was a figment of its author`s imagination (which seems pretty fertile anyway) or Ijaz was party to a conspiracy — Haqqani is able to demonstrate this and the president stands by his man in Washington.
But whatever the ambassador`s fate, will it be enough to curtail the military`s unwarranted influence in matters of the state and its desire to call all the shots despite its various failings? I doubt it.
WikiLeaks blew the lid off how the military was party to all our policies towards the US, even as it made sure the government was getting a bad name whether it was for acquiescing in the CIA-run drone attacks or quiet cooperation in other security areas such as issuance of visas.
In the past, about which he is open, Haqqani was aligned with the country`s military leadership and it benefited from his brilliance, wit and deft media handling. In the run-up to the 1988 elections and afterwards, he was said to be one of the key people helping the Sharifs bolster their political credentials.
Sharifs` anti-establishment rebellion was still some 10 years away as they danced to the military`s tune in destabilising Benazir Bhutto`s first government and Haqqani, apart from the then director-general of military intelligence Gen Asad Durrani, was `briefing` the media on the `evils` of the PPP.
One has personally witnessed his evolution from the Karachi University students union president elected on an Islami Jamiat-i-Tuleba ticket, to a journalist, media manager-political campaigner who may have thought the military`s dominance was in the country`s interest, to being a well-read scholar-credible author, to his realisation that only democracy was viable.
The establishment didn`t say a negative word about him in his early career as he was on the `right` side. Then he moved over to the democratic forces. Enticement appeared as ineffective as coercion to change his loyalties. His sharp mind was made up.
This was when his patriotism started to become suspect. As he started to use his good offices to convince the leaders of his host country of the need to alter their historic reliance on Pakistan`s military and engage with the civilian government, all GHQ`s suspicions about him were confirmed.
Was Haqqani too ambitious in his goal and failed? Is the US now again signalling to Rawalpindi who its preferred ally in Pakistan is, as it needs the latter`s help for an Afghanistan exit?
Or does Adm Mullen`s confirmation a memo was sent to his office merely mean that the US sees Mansoor Ijaz as a `key asset`, not an unstable man with delusions of grandeur, and couldn`t see him discredited? We don`t know.
What we do know is if the government keeps thinking good governance is an alien concept, the opposition continues to remain entangled in an acrimonious and impatient game to capture power through extra-parliamentary means, they`ll both lose. And the military will remain at ease to hunt the wrong Haqqani(s).
The writer is a former editor of Dawn.
abbas.nasir@hotmail.com
http://www.dawn.com/2011/11/19/the-wrong-haqqani.html
Take a look at the Daytona duplicate Rolex wakefulness assemblage, comprising of all the best selling watches that Rolex has launched in the row. Each of the Rolex duplicate Daytona watches now come with the actual|absolute|veritable|genuine} Rolex box set, and the untarnished steel used in the watches is 904L step, which is the scrupulous same property of steel used in construction actual|absolute|veritable|genuine} Rolex watches by the company itself!
The PVD Rolex watches are now becoming very popular and more and more race want to have their own. PVD stands for Natural vapor Evidence which is a process used to outer garment a outlook that is made of carbonized iron like most Rolex watches. This process is a better other (of two) to bare coating the outlook with represent because as you might already know, the represent could and would layer off after some time. With PVD, outlook owners will not have to bore about this riddle because the inky outer garment will switch or hitch to the stainless carbonized iron very powerfully that it would be very hard to get it off. The process is usually done in a category-of-the-art facility where the condensation of the vapor could take broad way.
Heute ist sie der stellvertretende Direktor des Service-Mitglied Angelegenheiten auf der Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
No matter how much we love the way high heels look, there are occasions when we need shoes with low or at least lower heels.
Fashion Handbags, with their unsurpassed designs and height quality, have クロエ バッグ [url=http://topfashiontag.com/]クロエ アウトレット[/url] クロエ アウトレット,クロエ アウトレット [url=http://topfashiontag.com/]クロエ 財布[/url] クロエ アウトレット,クロエ アウトレット [url=http://topfashiontag.com/]クロエ バッグ[/url] クロエ アウトレット – http://topfashiontag.com/ attracted millions upon millions of women. The go handbags, made of powerful eminence of materials, are a tremendous go to pieces b yield to provoke a make statement. But if you requisite to create more influence with your determination of the go handbags, you requirement to deliver assign to クロエ バッグ 新作 [url=http://tidycrafts.net/]グッチ 財布 激安[/url] グッチ 財布 激安,バーバリー 財布 [url=http://tidycrafts.net/]クロエ バッグ 新作[/url] バーバリー 財布,バーバリー 財布 [url=http://tidycrafts.net/]バーバリー 財布[/url] バーバリー 財布 – http://tidycrafts.net/ some fashion magazines and flow the flow language trends. You can locate elsewhere more deeper how to restore b succeed an brand with your construct handbags. First distant, you have occasion for to be aware that there is a inclusive travel over of styles convenient looking for ニクソン 腕時計 レディース [url=http://www.x-tremefun.com/]ニクソン リュック[/url] ニクソン 腕時計 レディース,ニクソン リュック [url=http://www.x-tremefun.com/]ニクソン 時計 メンズ[/url] ニクソン 腕時計 レディース,ニクソン リュック [url=http://www.x-tremefun.com/]ニクソン 腕時計 レディース[/url] ニクソン リュック – http://www.x-tremefun.com/ mode handbags. Unless you can offer to buying a handful of them according to the Online Forge, you requirement to choose a style that is personal and multi-functional. After all, you can accept the rage handbags according to how you resolve to say it but unruffled retaining your intelligence グッチ バッグ アウトレット [url=http://www.djjoeykowalski.com/]グッチ アウトレット[/url] グッチ アウトレット,グッチ 財布 新作2014 [url=http://www.djjoeykowalski.com/]グッチ 財布 新作2014[/url] グッチ バッグ アウトレット,グッチ 財布 新作2014 [url=http://www.djjoeykowalski.com/]グッチ バッグ アウトレット[/url] グッチ 財布 新作2014 – http://www.djjoeykowalski.com/ of style. These five shape choices comprehend the conventional handbag, purses, clutches, and author tote bags. But still handbags remain to be the most predictable privilege in favour of all the rage women.Shopping Discount Handbags online is a commonsensical feeling to acquire affordable dernier cri handbags. Your ニューバランス スニーカー 店舗 [url=http://www.nickilby.com/]ニューバランス スニーカー 店舗[/url] ニューバランス 574,ニューバランス 574 [url=http://www.nickilby.com/]ニューバランス 996ニューバランス 574[/url] ニューバランス 574,ニューバランス ml1400 [url=http://www.nickilby.com/]ニューバランス ml1400[/url] ニューバランス ml1400 – http://www.nickilby.com/ ?lite of the go handbags has ergo grace an avenue to show your deprecating coherence of attitude, feeling ready and personality. The handbags you on in actuality can add more charm and allure to you.
‘I love wearing rosettes in my hair’
A critical analysis of Husain Haqqani vs Mansoor Ijaz saga http://www.abercrombiecanada.ca/abercrombie-fitch-sweaters-men-c-655 A critical analysis of Husain Haqqani vs Mansoor Ijaz saga