Muddying the Waters - Hussain Haqqani in full form!

By Syed Haider Raza Mehdi

One has to give it to Hussain Haqqani.  How he masterfully mixes issues, articulates an argument and draws conclusions to favor his actions.

Dawn Newspaper, 25th March article, narrating Hussain Haqqani's latest claims

In his latest smoke and mirrors routine, he combines three things.

1. He was officially authorised to issue visas by the Government, in the manner he did.

2. Security officials in the Pakistan embassy were consulted prior to visas issuance.

3. People shouldn't ask him about these visas but question how Osama lived, undetected in Pakistan.

He's masterfully turned the debate from himself and the issuance of thousands of visas to US security folks, towards an issue which, of course has many unanswered questions.

The is the classic monkey muddying the waters, tactic.

His first two contentions.

Issuing visas with the approval of the civilian PPP government, but basically direct orders from Asif Zardari. PM Yousaf Raza Gilani was a mere postman underling, only following Zardari's orders.

So the question is. Why would Zardari do so?

The answer lies somewhere between not trusting the Army and bringing it to heel, ingratiating himself (Zardari) with the Americans, to perpetuate his hold on power and offering something really lucrative in return. Most likely our nuclear defanging.  And possibly save himself from a military takeover, an unreal assessment only fed by his mad paranoia.

Hence, in my opinion, as a consequence a devious plan was concocted by Haqqani to achieve the above and also in the process place himself in a position of much greater power and authority such as National Security Advisor or Foreign Minister or Interior Minister, and initiate the process of defanging Pakistan's nuclear program.

And at the same time initiate the process to bring the Pak Army to the same level of spineless subservience, as our political leadership has done to our Police and civilian administrative machinery.

Let's not forget that Haqqani has never been known for his strong patriotic values or strength of  character.

The less said about his so called Democratic credentials, the better.

From a rabid right wing Islamic student leader to supporting Gen. Zia ul Haque to right wing politics of PML to left wing of PPP and then to "offer his services" to Gen. Musharraf when the General took over, Haqqani has been Mistress to every Master of all political  shades

His strengths are a brilliant mind, a very powerful pen, his ability to worm his way into positions of power and sell his services to anybody willing to pay for them.

People like him are respectfully called,  Mercenaries or Quislings or Traitors.

A more uncharitable label and perhaps more befitting,  would be that of "A Lady of the Night" or even worse, the person who "manages" her.

Also not to be forgotten is his alleged lack of personal morality and his alleged weakness for the fairer gender with some fairly juicy stories in his closet!

And he also has the unenviable reputation of being a petty forgerer,  having forged Peter Gabriel's signature to besmirch Benazir Butto's reputation during one of his many selling of his soul routines, this time working for Nawaz Sharif.

Put this all together and you have the classic description of a person with no self respect, willing to compromise everything including his country. The last being the reason he became an Indian mole.

His second claim of consulting with embassy's security staff is a classic piece of obfuscation. For those in these roles, usually the Defence Attache and a civilian IB officer, this is a meaningless claim. Unless these offices have the power to vet "suspect applications" via recourse to Pakistan, they by themselves have no data and or information to do the same.

The most the Defence Attache can do, which he did, was apprise his superiors and raising huge concerns about the way these visas were being issued. And that is how we first got wind of this issue.

The question which comes to my mind is, now armed with this insight, what actions or steps did the security agencies or the Pakistan Army leadership take to apprise Zardari (the source of this order ) and to stop this?

Only Gens. Kayani and Pasha and others in the know can answer this question. And they must come out publicly on this issue.

And to Haqqani's last assertion about OBL living in Pakistan undetected.

The last is serious and must be investigated. But whatever the outcome of that investigation, it does not in any form or shape absolve Haqqani for treason against the State of Pakistan and the Pakistan Army and for working for the Indians.

For this he must be tried and suffer the consequences.

And Asif Ali Zardari has a lot to answer.

Its interesting to see the congruence in the arguments put forward by Haqqani and Zardari's spokesperson, Senator FarhatUllah Babar, seemingly a good man stuck deep in the rot called Zardari.

Zaradari has now moved from being just a petty corrupt criminal to "selling out" Pakistan.