One would have thought that with the Supreme Court of Pakistan - the highest judicial institution of the land - seized with the issue of memogate, fears of injustice to any party involved would have been convincingly laid to rest. It is an unprecedented, complicated and complex case to crack and the process to reach the heart of the darkness has begun yet as the matter is proceeded with, it continues to evolve dimensions that tend to confound, confuse and generate controversies threatening to set vital national institutions on a collision course. Hussain Haqqani is in the eye of the storm and as he has told the Daily Telegraph in his narcissist rhetoric, “psychological war” is being waged by “powerful quarters” to get him. But as a scrutiny of the situation would reveal he, ably aided by his wife and powerful friends in the US, is orchestrating a well oiled campaign, at home and abroad, to give a slip to justice.
Haqqani’s support campaign, carefully crafted to circumvent the core issue of his central role in the memo issue, portrays him as a noble intellectual fallen victim to the treacherous inter-institution power play in Pakistan. This man is infallible, the well orchestrated campaign drums incessantly; embellishing his profile as a professor, an academic, a think-tank person, an author, a champion of human rights and democracy, who has become the victim of a deep-seated conspiracy that has made him vulnerable to the obscurantist forces. Even as his fishy role in the memogate is under consideration by the Supreme Court, to the formidable phalanx of his supporters in the foreign media, he is clearly above suspicion for having played the devil’s advocate and why?; because two ‘highly respectable and responsible Americans’, General James Jones, the former National Security Advisor to President Barack Obama, and Admiral Mike Mullen, the ex-Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, have vouched for his innocence. His foreign friends are aghast that the ex-Ambassador has been placed on the Exit Control List (ECL), which to them is the grossest violation of human rights ever perpetrated and never mind if that was on the court orders. Easily forgotten is the fact that in the US one can lose one’s passport faster than the drop of a hat, in case you are even suspected of coming on the wrong side of the law; an abiding lesson that the ex-Chief of the IMF was to learn recently; his churlish conduct notwithstanding.
Propagating these moving sound-bites are powerful members of the US establishment and the influential intellectual circuits, who have taken up Haqqani’s cause claiming innocence of any wrongdoing for reasons best known to them. Three US Senators; John McCain, Mark Kirk and Joseph Lieberman, recently, fired a broadside on his behalf dabbling in issues that were none of their concern. “We are increasingly troubled by Ambassador Haqqani’s treatment since he returned home to Pakistan, including travel ban imposed on him,” said a statement issued by the Senators. They urged Pakistani authorities to “resolve this matter swiftly” consistent with the rule of law and prevent the investigations of Haqqani “from becoming a political tool for revenge against an honourable man.”
On January 9, 2012, sixteen leading intellectuals and foreign policy experts sent a letter - organised by well known Pakistan haters, Lisa Curtis of the Heritage Foundation and Bruce Riedel of the Brookings Institution - to Secretary Hillary Clinton asking her to pressure the Pakistani government to ensure fair treatment and safety of Haqqani, who feared for his life in Pakistan due to the fallout from the memogate Affair. While showing their unfounded concern, these highly informed individuals were obviously aware of the much known fact that Haqqani was comfortably tucked into the safety and hospitality of the Prime Minister House, as his personal guest. Not to be left behind in its support for the ex-Ambassador, the New York Times quoted him while talking from his cushy abode in Islamabad expressing fears that he could be murdered if he left the premises. His lawyer said that the ISI “might pick him up and torture him to elicit a confession of treason”, as if Pakistan was a banana republic where the national intelligence service could trounce the honour and dignity of highest political office with impunity and make fun of the proceedings of the judicial panel consisting of three provincial Chief Justices.
Haqqani’s conduct, as he appeared before the Judicial Commission, gave a slice of his true self that certainly would have sobered his foreign supporters and media. Instead of showing cooperation and coming clean to establish his innocence before the Commission, he was at his chimerical best to obfuscate the investigations. To effectively counter Mansoor Ijaz’s allegations, instead of presenting his BlackBerry for scrutiny to the court, he refused to surrender his cell phone’s privacy rights; in fact, he informed the Commission that since he left Washington in a hurry, he forgot to bring along his two BlackBerry sets; scuttling attempts to ask the service provider to retrieve the record of communications that transpired between the two main characters of the memogate. His conduct before the Commission, reflecting poor work ethics, disrespect for the process of law and his hypocritical lip service to promote liberal and democratic values remained in much contrast with his squeaky clean persona in the US and the West. If some of his eager supporters were miffed by his displayed conduct before the investigating Commission, they managed to keep a stiff upper lip.
As Hillary Clinton, duly articulates her thoughts, while she mulls over the request made by powerful opinionmakers belonging to a prestigious array of think-tank community in the US, to intercede on behalf of Haqqani, she needs to weigh in on the sanctity of our courts that have become a ray of hope for the beleaguered nation and which are earnestly engaged in finding the truth behind the memogate. She can, however, use her influence to induce Hussain Haqqani, through the good offices of shared media savvy friends, to speak the truth that will ultimately grant him the genuineness of a true democrat and a liberal that he aspires to be.
The writer is a freelance columnist.