Hussain Haqqani slams Pakistan officials for ‘failed policies’

WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s former ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, said on Tuesday that officials in Islamabad should take responsibility for their failed policies instead of looking for scapegoats.

Rejecting the claims made by Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz that a former Pakistani ambassador to the United States (US) is ‘lobbying against his own country’ and ‘creating hurdles for the government,’ Haqqani said he knew Aziz was speaking about him because another minister had attacked him by name with similar claims.

“I am now a scholar in the US, not a lobbyist,” Haqqani said, adding, “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.”

Haqqani commented that 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 made it susceptible to changes in the 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,” said the former Pakistani envoy.

“I have written three scholarly books on Pakistan published internationally criticizing policies that I believe damage Pakistan’s interests,” Haqqani said.

“Others, including Mr Sartaj Aziz, are welcome to write books that disprove my arguments but to say that my opinions are creating hurdles in the conduct of their failed policies is disingenuous at best.”

Haqqani said he was not engaged in lobbying and would never lobby against what “I consider to be the interest of Pakistan.” He however insisted that he is 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.

Haqqani advised the advisor incharge of the Pakistan Foreign Office to understand that making noise in Islamabad about a scholar in Washington would not change things in Washington.

“I have great respect for Mr Sartaj Aziz as a development economist and would like him to extend the same courtesy to me as a Professor of International Relations,” he added.