Post-Haqqani scenario

That the government didn't take even one full day to find replacement of Husain Haqqani and promptly announced the appointment of Sherry Rehman as Pakistan's new ambassador to the United States many of us are greatly surprised. Even the so-called best-informed sources had not included her among the expected nominees. But now that Rehman is being dubbed as a 'consensus candidate' it appears she had emerged as the agreed appointee of both the Zardari-Gilani set-up and the military even before Husain Haqqani had landed in Pakistan. That being the case, one would hazard a guess that the democratic system is past the turbulence and business as usual is expected to be resumed. But that's not what some of us would like to concede; a perception does exist that the post-haste announcement of Sherry's appointment clearly reflects the government's thinking to move beyond the Memogate controversy as quickly as possible. Given that the people would like to know the whole truth about this scandal and the political opposition is fully geared to go for the kill, the post-Haqqani scenario has the right potential to explode with full ferocity on the national scene. Heads should roll, insist the detractors of the government. But not much of the opposition's flak is expected to be flung at Rehman. Minus rejection of her appointment by the ultra-right, her nomination seems to have gone well with both the general public and the political opposition. Her credentials as a liberal democrat that is firmly committed to protecting the rights of the weaker sections of Pakistani society - not merely by words but by concrete actions - are well-known and her work as a contribution to that is internationally acknowledged. And no less importantly, Sherry Rehman enjoys good relations with the media, not only for as a former journalist colleague but for her daring act of resigning as information minister after disagreement with the all-powerful President Zardari over the question of freedom of the press. She had closely missed the chance of being appointed foreign minister as successor to Shah Mehmud Qureshi and she should now feel compensated, albeit partly. That said it would be naïve to underestimate the ferocity of the challenges she is expected to encounter as Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, now that in the wake of the endgame in Afghanistan, the mutual trust is fast giving way to mistrust and co-operative bilateralism has considerably weakened. Equally tough would be the challenge for her to undergo the visage change from a political appointee to a state representative - essentially by shunning the path of her predecessor. Of course, her credentials as a liberal politician and rights activist would be an asset in the United States, but she would still be the ambassador of Pakistan and is expected to project the national aspirations in all their peculiar hues. Let Rehman do her work as ambassador, which is not going to be easy. But much more problematic is going to be the task cut out for President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani to deal with the aftermath of Husain Haqqani's diplomatic engineering. It is immaterial that Admiral Mike Mullen had rubbished the memo and there was no follow-up - though a minority point of view insists that of the six offers made in the memo, three or four were being implemented. But for us that's not the case; said bluntly, the line of action proposed in the memo is no less than a death warrant for Pakistan. The people would like to know the whole truth about the Memogate, as to who authorised it and who authored it, through an open investigation. That Prime Minister Gilani is likely to appoint a 'fully empowered special investigator' will not help, because impression obtains that the memo was authored at the behest of the government and such a move is nothing more than sweeping the scandal under the carpet. A parliamentary committee would look into the scandal and fix responsibility, to many is a stillborn possibility given the by-now well-established powerlessness of the parliament in such cases. The only viable option is a judicial inquiry, conducted in the open, with howsoever important respondents appearing before the court in person. And then time is of the essence in this matter; the sooner this hanging fire is taken care of the better for the people and the country. Copyright Business Recorder, 2011