May 30, 2012
Waqas Aslam Rana

It is not easy to get published in the New York Times, unless your name is Husain Haqqani. His article titled ‘How Pakistan lets terrorism fester’ published in the Times on May 10 did not surprise me in the least; anyone who has been following the man’s career would have the same reaction.

But Haqqani’s latest piece of writing included something new and dangerous; maligning the superior judiciary of Pakistan in the media of his de-facto homeland. One shudders to think that the person writing these words was our ambassador in Washington until recently.

Haqqani directly accused the courts of allowing terrorism to foster by releasing various militants captured by security forces. He very conveniently failed to mention that the burden of proof in any legal system lies with the prosecution, which in this is the government of his current patron Asif Zardari. He would have us believe that it is not just the army and ISI who are harbouring terrorists. The Supreme Court is in on the act as well. No wonder the American administration tried so desperately and succeeded in extricating Haqqani from the Memogate fiasco.

Yet Pakistanis everywhere should take heart. For the Supreme Court has shown that finally justice in the country can also bring the strong and not just the weak under its grip. And this is not just restricted to the civilian leadership. Have we not seen the Supreme Court taking up the Asghar Khan petition and forcing the former chief of the army staff, General (r) Aslam Baig to appear before it? Can the Haqqanis of this world not see the chief justice personally looking into the role of the Frontier Corps in the issue of missing persons in Balochistan? Haqqani’s false allegations are merely an attempt to divert attention from Pakistan’s single biggest problem; the current government’s record-breaking corruption.

Haqqani has accused both the judiciary and the media of distracting the nation’s attention from ‘the threat of jihadist ideology by constantly targeting the governing party’. He is writing the only thing ‘good’ Pakistanis are allowed to write in the mainstream American media since 9/11; that militant Islamic ideology presents an existential threat to the country, that it is all home-grown and that the only solution to it is an unending military campaign. Each of these is a myth, carefully cultivated by neo-conservatives in Washington and liberal fascists in Islamabad.

First, parties based on Islamist ideals have consistently failed to attract a significant share of the vote in general elections in our history. This includes even the Jamaat-e-Islami, the most mainstream of the Islamist parties. Second, terrorism in Pakistan today is as much a result of Nato presence in Afghanistan as it is due to domestic factors.

This reality is completely papered over in the collective narrative propagated by spin doctors in America and Pakistan. Third, even a casual reader of history will attest to the fact that no insurgency has ever been suppressed through military means alone. It is always a political solution that eventually brings such wars to an end.

The article by Husain Haqqani is especially worrisome because it comes at a crucial time in Pakistan’s history when two great developments have taken place. First, we finally have an independent apex that has displayed the determination to do all in its power to administer justice across the board and without fear of political considerations. Second, after a long time the people in the country are beginning to think of a change that does not involve the army taking over. In Imran Khan and the PTI, they see a possible political option for improvement in the state of affairs.

Regardless of how the party does at the polls, the massive rise in its popularity has shown Haqqani’s premise to be false. The people want an end to corruption; they desire rule of law and a chance to lead a life of dignity – not endless violence caused by fighting an unwinnable war.

The writer is currently pursuing a Master of International Affairs at Columbia University, with a concentration in economic and political development.
-The News