I am a recipient of the following email that is doing the rounds these days about Pakistan's ambassador designate to the United States, Hussain Haqqani.
I am a recipient of the following email that is doing the rounds these days about Pakistan's ambassador designate to the United States, Hussain Haqqani.
I fail to understand what the fuss is about. Are the circulators objecting to Haqqani participating in a Jewish event in Cleveland? Or are they criticizing his opinion that the Muslim world's decline started well
before the creation of Israel?
Is it such a reprehensible or contra-factual opinion? Also, how does holding this opinion result in denying the suffering of Palestinians, duly acknowledged in Haqqani's many writings?
www.husainhaqqani.comIf Haqqani criticized Saudi policies or groups he considers extremists, is that not within his rights as a scholar or writer?
It is time to cool down and examine the facts without prejudice or anger or jealousy. I speak of jealousy because Mohammed Malick and Ayaz Amir's digs at Haqqani can only be attributed to that. Ayaz Amir
described Haqqani as a friend and a "snake in the grass" at the same time in one column, making me wonder which one is the snake in the grass. I have
never read anything nasty written by Haqqani about any
of his current or former colleagues.
Haqqani has been a Benazir Bhutto associate for fifteen or so years, which is longer than most Pakistani politicos stay in one party. What if he has changed his position in the past? Only dead minds dont grow. Read BB's book 'Reconciliation' to find out what she thinks of Haqqani. You are welcome to not like BB or Haqqani but then express an opinion instead of pretending to circulate facts.
Going back to the Cleveland Jewish News story in circulation, Haqqani did not join the Institute created by Stephen Schwartz (a convert to Islam) as he is not listed on its website.
http://www.islamicpluralism.org/The Cleveland Jewish News is a community newspaper which is probably produced by volunteers and not professional journalists although we all know that even professional journalists get things wrong. The story shows how the reporter mixes up quotes by attributing the same sentence to both Haqqani and Schwartz. The story is not a transcript but a reporter's report. The two spoke at the same event and the reporter did not make a distinction between what each one said separately. Haqqani and Schwartz have not appeared in other events together, so charges of their being in cahoots are nullified.
In any case, Charlie Wilson's War demonstrates that the much vaunted "Mujahid of Islam" General Zia dealt with Jews and Israelis as did General Musharraf. I am not prepared to believe that any of the many Pakistanis living abroad have not shared office space, speaking platforms or business dealings with supporters of Israel.
Then, what is the fuss about Haqqani and the Cleveland Jewish News story? It is time to stop circulating such sensational stuff. Whether you like him or not,
Haqqani will now represent Pakistan in the U.S. and we
must strengthen his ability to get the best deal for Pakistan.
Similarly, the rubbish about Haqqani receiving research grants etc. in another email doing the rounds are evidence only of the circulator's ignorance. Every scholar in the U.S. receives grants to conduct
research and the greater the grant amount, the more successful scholar you are.
Now those who have never done research or published internationally might think of it all as some great conspiracy but any Pakistani with international recognition goes through the same drill.
Best regards,
Wasiq Ali