Pakistan foreign ministry should try to influence my opinions rather than treating me like a pariah
WASHINGTON, DC: Pakistani officials should take responsibility for their failed policies and poor presentation abroad instead of looking for scapegoats to divert attention from criticism at home. I reject the claims of Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz that I have been lobbying against my own country and “creating hurdles for the government”. I know Mr Aziz is talking about me because another minister had also attacked me by name with similar claims.
I am now a scholar in the US, not a lobbyist. If my opinions as a scholar carry so much weight that US policy is being affected by them, then the Pakistan foreign ministry should try to influence my opinions rather than treating me like a pariah and making false allegations against me in the Pakistani media. Pakistan’s difficulties in the US were the result of years of supporting jihadis and making excuses that are having less and less effect on Americans. Moreover, Pakistan’s dependence on US aid has made it susceptible to changes in US national mood and attitude. I did not make the AQ Khan network, support the Taliban as they killed US soldiers in Afghanistan or allow UN-designated terrorist groups to function openly so there is no point in blaming me for these policy failures. Neither I nor any other former ambassador was responsible for the OBL fiasco. I have written three scholarly books on Pakistan, published internationally, critiquing policies that I believe damage Pakistan’s interests. Others, including Mr Aziz, are welcome to write books that disprove my arguments but to say that my opinions are creating hurdles to the conduct of their failed policies is disingenuous at best.
I am not engaged in lobbying and would never lobby against what I consider to be the interest of Pakistan. However, I am entitled to having a different opinion about what is Pakistan’s interest than the entrenched Pakistani establishment and if that troubles some people, so be it. Mr Aziz should understand that making noise in Islamabad about a scholar in Washington would not change things in Washington. I have great respect for Mr Aziz as a development economist and would like him to extend the same courtesy to me as a professor of International Relations.
Husain Haqqani
Published in The Express Tribune, June 25th, 2016.
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