Husain Haqqani

Husain Haqqani حسین حقّانی
24th Pakistan Ambassador to the United States
In office 13 April 2008 – 22 November 2011
Preceded by	Mahmud Ali Durrani
Succeeded by	Sherry Rehman
High Commissioner of Pakistan to Sri Lanka
In office 11 May 1992 – 28 June 1993
Preceded by	Tariq Mir
Succeeded by	Tariq Altaf
Personal details
Born	(1956-07-01) 1 July 1956 Karachi, Pakistan
Spouse(s)	Farahnaz Ispahani
Children	3 daughters 1 son
Alma mater	University of Karachi
Profession	Journalist
Religion	Islam

Husain Haqqani (Urdu: حسین حقّانی; born 1 July 1956), alternately spelled Hussain Haqqani, is a Pakistani political author and the former Pakistan Ambassador to the United States. He was appointed as the Pakistan ambassador in April 2008, after being exiled in 1999 following criticisms against the government of then-President Pervez Musharraf. He resigned on 22 November 2011 following allegations of his involvement in the Memogate controversy.^[1]

Prior to serving as Ambassador to the United States, Haqqani held several positions including as an adviser to three former Pakistani prime ministers and as envoy to Sri Lanka. In additions, Haqqani has also been a journalist, scholar and educator. He is currently a Senior Fellow and Director for South and Central Asia at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. and co-editor of Hudson's signature journal Current Trends in Islamist Ideology.^[2] Haqqani is also the Director of the Center of International Relations and a Professor of the Practice of International Relations at Boston University.^[3]

Early life

Haqqani was born in Karachi where he was raised in a conservative but educated middle-class family in Malir outside Karachi. He began his interest in journalism in high school. In 1973 he joined Karachi University. He frequently visited the library at the US consulate, reading volumes of American history. Later, when students wanted to attack the consulate as part of a protest against the United States, Haqqani refused.^[4] Haqqani received a B.A. degree with distinction in 1977 and a MA degree with distinction in international relations in 1980 from the University of Karachi.^[5]

Career

Journalism

Haqqani worked as a full-time journalist from 1980–88. He covered the war in Afghanistan for Voice of America radio; served as the Pakistan and Afghanistan correspondent for Far Eastern Economic Review; and worked in Hong Kong as the East Asian correspondent for the London-based Arabia: the Islamic World Review. He worked for the state broadcaster Pakistan Television during the general elections of 1985.^[6]

Politics

Haqqani started his political career at the University of Karachi, where he became President of the Karachi University Students Union^[7] which was dominated by the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba, the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami.^[6] Haqqani explained his association with Islamists as a student in an article in the Asian Wall Street Journal. "Over the last three decades, I have alternated between being attracted to and repulsed by political Islam."^[7]

In 1988, he worked in the political campaign for an alliance led by Nawaz Sharif; In 1990, he was special assistant to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif; from 1990–92, he was special assistant and spokesman for Prime Minister Sharif; from 1992–93, he became one of Pakistan's youngest ambassadors, serving in Sri Lanka; from 1993–95, he was spokesman to Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto; from 1995–96, he was chairman of the House Building Finance Corporation.^[5]

From 2004–08, Haqqani was an associate professor for international relations at Boston University. In addition, he co-chaired the Project on Islam and Democracy at the Hudson Institute in Washington, and was co-editor of the international scholarly journal Current Trends in Islamist Ideology. Among his numerous writing credits are "Pakistan Between Mosque and Military" for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; "Islam's Medieval Outposts" for the journal Foreign Policy, and "The Role of Islam in Pakistan's Future" for Washington Quarterly.^[8][9]

Alleged secret memo and resignation

In 2011, American businessman Mansoor Ijaz said Haqqani asked him to deliver a secret memorandum to Adm. Mike Mullen, then chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, asking for US intervention to prevent a military takeover in Pakistan.^[10][11] Haqqani denied the accusations.^[12] He was summoned to Islamabad by Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani to discuss the allegations and afterwards tendered his resignation.^[12] While a judicial commission organised by the Pakistan Supreme Court investigated,^[13] Haqqani was not allowed to leave the country.^[14] He sought refuge in the presidential palace and later the Prime Minister's residence, citing threats to his life by extremist groups who accused him of treason.^[15] In January 2012, Pakistan's Supreme Court allowed Haqqani to leave the country temporarily to attend hearings remotely.^[16]

In June 2012, the Judicial Commission released a report concluding that the memorandum was authentic and that Haqqani was its "originator and architect".^[17]:119 The justices further found that Haqqani had undermined the country's security and that Haqqani misled Ijaz to believe the memorandum had the Pakistani president's approval.^[18] Pakistan's Supreme Court noted that the commission was only expressing its opinion, and there had been neither official finding of facts nor determination of guilt in the case.^[19]

Haqqani said the Commission's report was one-sided and defended his patriotism^[20] and his innocence.^[21] Haqqani has not returned to Pakistan, citing threats on his life.^[22]

Views

He said the historical bilateral relationship was "erratic", citing US engagement from the early Cold War to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, when the US government backed Afghan fighters by funnelling support through the Pakistani channels. He is sceptical that completely stabilising the relationship can be accomplished during the tenure of one ambassador, but seeks to "lay the foundations of a relationship that is multidimensional: political, military, cultural, economic and social".^[23]

The Wall Street Journal described Haqqani as "a hostage" while he was in Pakistan and published an interview with him from the Prime Minister's house in which he outlined why he was hated by Pakistan's intelligence services and Jihadi groups.^[24] Michel Hirsh, writing in The Atlantic, described Haqqani as "The Last Friendly Pakistani" towards the US^[25] Jeffrey Goldberg, writing for The Atlantic and Bloomberg News, has been a consistent supporter of Haqqani, calling him "The Hardest Working Man in Washington" and criticising Pakistan's military and security services^[26][27] Simon Tisdall of The Guardian called Haqqani "an instinctive ally of the west" and attributed Memogate to the ambassador's difficult relationship with Pakistan intelligence service.^[28]

Personal life

In March 2000, Haqqani married Farahnaz Ispahani, a former producer at CNN and MSNBC, member of the Pakistani National Assembly, and the granddaughter of Mirza Abol Hassan Ispahani, Pakistan's first ambassador to Washington. The Pakistan Ambassador's residence in Washington was purchased and donated by her grandfather.^[29] Haqqani has lived in the United States since 2002.^[30]

Pakistan Embassy residence in Washington, D.C.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Husain Haqqani.

• Official website
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Husain Haqqani at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Husain Haqqani in libraries (WorldCat catalog)