ISLAMABAD: Former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani, currently embroiled in the Memogate case, fought a second front on Tuesday as he faced a tough session with the Abbottabad commission.
The ex-ambassador, who was forced to resign last month over the memo scandal, used the opportunity with the commission probing the May 2 Osama bin Laden raid to present his case. He also pointed out, indignantly, that his services during a crucial period when the country was facing the threat of sanctions from both the US and UN had not been recognised.
Haqqani, referring to the time following the Osama bin Laden raid, said that the UN Security Council president at the time had issued a strong statement calling on all states to work together against terrorism, bring to justice its perpetrators, organisers and sponsors and hold those responsible accountable. The statement also welcomed the fact that “Osama bin Laden will never again be able to perpetrate such acts of terrorism”.
At this time, the former envoy emphasised, the mood in the US towards Pakistan was a hostile one. He added that US officials pointed to the Security Council president’s statement to justify unilateral action in Abbottabad, in disregard of Pakistan’s sovereignty.
‘My job was to prevent sanctions’
It was against this hostile backdrop, Haqqani said in his statement, that he was tasked to make amends and convey Pakistan’s concerns to the US, adding that his assignment was a “tough and thankless” one.
“As such, the task before the Pakistan embassy in Washington was to ensure that the negative mood in the US does not result in aggressive sanctions or restrictions on Pakistan by the US Congress,” his statement, which was later issued to the media, said.
The recently besieged former envoy, perhaps a little resentfully in the wake of omnipresent accusations, highlighted in detail his role in giving US politicians the Pakistani side of the story.
His statement added: “Over the next several days, I appeared on numerous US television and radio programs, addressed several think tanks and met with dozens of US Congressmen and Senators to give them the Pakistani perspective and to defend our institutions of state”. Specifically, Haqqani said, he was defending the institutions against charges of violating UN resolutions and providing sanctuary to the Al Qaeda leader or turning a blind eye to his presence in the country.
Allegations of issuing visas
Besides elaborating on his role in handling the delicate situation, Haqqani also had to answer some pressing questions presented by the commission. His statement addressed allegations that an ‘excessive’ amount of visas had been issued to Americans preceding the May 2 raid, specifically people associated with the Central Intelligence Agency.
Haqqani said that during his posting in Washington, the embassy had been conservative in issuing visas and at one point, (from April to June 2010) had held back issuing any official visas because clearance from Islamabad had not been received.
This in turn had created a backlog and also resulted in a political issue with the US government, which was resolved by the prime minister authorising the ambassador some discretion in issuing visas vide his letter dated July 14 2010, he said.
He added however, that despite being granted this authorization, “the embassy continued to refer visa applications of US officials from military and allied branches to the respective security agencies”.
The former ambassador also said that statistics showed that the total number of visas issued from Washington for US officials did not increase in any dramatic way over the last few years.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 21st, 2011.
COMMENTS (14)
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@Hasan: Then it means OBL status came to Pakistani Intelligence notice and they invited US to strike. This devolves Pakistan of any complicity in harboring OBL in the country by its agencies. It means blaming Pak for hiding OBL is unfounded. Think of it.
Did Husain Haqqani know in advance about the raid? That is an incorrect question to ask.
The correct question to ask is: who in Pakastan's military/inteligence knew of and arranged for OBL's presence in a military garrison town, within a stone's throw of an elite military academy?
By asking the wrong question, the politicans are attempting to devert attention from the real underlying issue Pakistan is correctly accused of: shielding & supporting territorists. And once again the politicians have shown that they are cowered by the military by avoiding asking the real question.
How many politicans do you think would survive if the asked the real question? We all know the answer to that question. And we all know that the answer to that qiuestion makes Pakistan a laughing stock in the rest of the world.
The unfortunate part is that the ignorent Paks are playing along with this charade, or, those who have figured out that they are being duped have chosen to remain silent. Not a very good picture to portray to the rest of the world. .
His guilt is his wisdom. They are trying to crucify him, because he is smarter than all Corps Commanders Combined.
@David --- so just how long does it take for your UK police to respond when you make a call - and if those police had to call the military how long do you think it would take before they arrived to investigate -- and how long do you think it would take for them to wake a General to mobilize your defenses. No offense but the USA could pull of this type of raid in most countries in the World including the UK - it was a precision operation that relied more on speed than fancy stealth helicopters. What amazes me is that everyone knows that a handful of terrorist took over a naval air base and kept it for almost over a day -- but all the conspiracy theorist think the USA could never pull off a raid without having super duper stealth technology and help from the PPP . The two things that conspiracy theorist all have in common -- selective memory and no common sense.
I live in a small English village, there are no army or police stationed near here but if at around midnight a helicopter crashed and a fire fight lasted for 40 minutes I think somebody might wake up and call the police within 5 minutes, it just does not make any sense. Explosions and machine gun fire, people would hear and know, the army base there would have people on watch but they waited for the Americans to leave before arriving at the scene.
Haqqani is right in saying that no one knew about US May 2, 2011 raid that killed OBL.
US top secret missions are never shared with any one in the world, except those who are involved in it.
To get OBL dead or alive only few and concerned people knew about it.
To double check whether the raid is going to be carried out by US Navy Seal’s, special arrangements were made at the White House.
At White House, only top notches were monitoring the raid, to avoid any possible leakage of information before time which might have hampered the operational tactics and failure of the raid.
Regarding issuance of visas to Americans, it should be verified by the subordinates of Haqqani, if his statement is true.
Setting up Commissions to get the facts is a good idea. A properly set up commission can be very beneficial. It should be borne in mind that the life or utility of the commission is its terms of reference.
Unfortunately or intentionally, every commission set up in Pakistan was deliberately given wrong terms of reference. Benazir Bhutto commission was set up to find out how Benazir died rather than finding out who killed Benazir. Same with Abattobad Commission which was set up to find out about who knew what in advance and the issue of visas whereas the commission should have been set up to find out the details of the presence of OBL in Pakistan. MI commission was set up to spare the sacred cows and take revenge on perceived traitors.The net result is that the entire judicial system and the Parliament if made to look like a mockery. Patriotism is protecting the interest of the country with ethics and principles, NOT taking a principled stand where ethics lack. This is the reason why many bracket the Mullas and Military in one bracket.
He is telling the truth. No one in Pakistan was aware of the raid although many knew of the presence of OBL in Pakistan. Hillary and many top officials of USA had said that many times and OBL could not have just vanished in thin air. Anyone thinking that HH or anyone in Pakistan had advance knowledge of the raid is just lying to themselves. I also believe that most Pakistanis believe in their heart that OBL was present in Pakistan with the knowledge and support of some elements but no one knew of the raid in advance. In Pakistan, as in most asian countries, everyone knows more as to what is happening in their neighbor's house than they know of their own house.
Even if HH had advance knowledge of the raid and had informed the army, would the army taken out OBL as he was a dreaded person and the army would have been worried of retaliation from Al Quaida. There would have been so many retaliatory terror attacks. Pakistan should actually thank USA for not keeping them informed of the raid in advance.
Now, if those who have the real power in Pakistan have some sense, they should think their strategies to handle properly Zawahiri and Mulla Omar. Any mishandling would be very damaging for Pakistan. Proper handling could earn respect for Pakistan and propel Pakistan to prosperity and vice versa.
Earth shattering finding. The raid was carried out usin stealth helicopters that were silent and radar was not operating, how would anyone know unless US telegraphed the attack, which they did not do. This is what you came up with?