ISLAMABAD: The memo Husain Haqqani allegedly dictated to Mansoor Ejaz seems to be a replica of Haqqani’s views mentioned in his book ‘Pakistan between Mosque and Military’, and the former ambassador to USA proudly owns the contents of the book even after falling into the memogate controversy.

Haqqani not only talked critical of Pakistan’s nukes, which he also did in the memo, but also termed the creation of Pakistan as a hurriedly done thing “without giving detailed thought to various aspects of nation and state building”. Moreover, Haqqani’s article in which he considered Ahmadis as a sect of Muslims, and when he advocated for a Zionist when the entire Muslim community in USA was against him also created doubts about Haqqani’s missions.

Husain Haqqani has denied his involvement in the memogate, but his view in his book talk of something else. In the concluding paragraphs of his book, Haqqani wrote: “Washington must not ignore Pakistan’s state sponsorship of Islamist militants, its pursuit of nuclear weapons and missiles at the expense of education and health care, and its refusal to democratise; each of these issues is directly linked to the future of Islamist radicalism.”

“The United States clearly has a few good short term policy options in relation to Pakistan. American policy makers should endeavour to recognize the failings of their past policies and avoid repeating their mistakes. The United States has sought short-term gains from its relationship with Pakistan, inadvertently accentuating that country’s problems in the process. Pakistan’s civil and military elite, on the other hand, must understand how their three-part paradigm for state and nation building has led Pakistan from one disaster to the next. Pakistan was created in a hurry and without giving detailed thought to various aspects of nation and state building. Perhaps it is time to rectify that mistake by taking a long-term view. Both Pakistan’s elite and

their US benefactors would have to participate in transforming Pakistan into a functional, rather than ideological, state.”

Regarding Kashmir Issue, Haqqani expressed his view in his book as saying, “On each occasion when Pakistan flexed its military muscle and invited war, Pakistan’s psycho-political, as opposed to physical, insecurity was at play. But much of this strong sentiment has been produced by the constant rhetoric of Kashmir’s centrality to Pakistan’s existence that has been fed to Pakistanis on a regular basis. Fifty-eight years after partition, and in the absence of any incentive or compulsion on part of India to revise the status quo, it might be prudent for Pakistanis to give priority to normalization and stability in south Asia over settlement of the Kashmir dispute. To make that possible, the Pakistani state must end the rhetoric it has fed to Pakistanis about Kashmir. It appears, so far, that Pakistan’s military leadership remains unwilling to change the country’s ideological orientation.”

Though Haqqani turned no stone unturned in praising General Ziaul Haq on his funeral which was telecast live on official Television Channel also wept over the demise of a dictator; videos seen by this correspondent, Haqqani mentioned Zia’s rule in his book as ‘Ziaul haq is often identified as the person most responsible for turning Pakistan into a global centre for political Islam.

Undoubtedly, Zia went farthest in defining Pakistan as an Islamic State, and he nurtured the jihadist ideology that now threatens to destabilize much of the Islamic world, but in doing so, he saw himself as carrying forward the nation-and-state-building project that started soon after the demise of Pakistan’s founder, Muhmamad Ali Jinnah.’

While in an article published in an international publication on July 20, 2005, titled ‘London Bombing and Pakistan Connection: A Pakistani View’ Haqqani went to write Ahmadis as ‘Ahmadiyya sect who oppose Jehad’ instead of non-Muslims which also created doubts about Haqqani’s motives. In 2003 when the Muslim community was protesting against the appointment of an anti-Muslim Zionist Daniel Pipes in US Institute of Peace, Haqqani wrote an article in Wall Street Journal praising Pipes whose views were known to all, and who wanted a weaponized solution of Palestine. This advocacy also raised many eyebrows regarding Haqqani’s purposes and missions.



