Haqqani ‘not lobbying against Pakistan’

Officials in Islamabad responsible for failed policies

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

Rejecting the claims made by 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 talking about him because another minister had attacked Haqqani 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 the Jihadis and making excuses that are having less and less effect on Americans. Moreover, Pakistan’s dependence on the US aid made it susceptible to changes in the US national mood and attitude.

He said, “I did not make the AQ Khan network, support the Taliban as they killed US soldiers in Afghanistan or allow the 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,” Haqqani said. “Others, including 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”.