Breaking News: Sherry Rehman new Pakistani Ambassador in USA

[Nitin Goyal]

I like that lady.. excellent choice. she is the right choice baby aha !!!

 

[Rank]

its really BREAKING news

 

[Donatello]

There is no harm with Sherry Rehman if she would work under Foreign Ministry instead of under some one ......... Remember peoples were talking about Hina Rabbani like same. Simple follow the policy and protocol.






Did you not experience that Security Agencies handle such situation in the presence of Haqani, the protocol has been set for that and that would be example for Sherry Rehman. The only problem that can cause is… could Sherry Rehman introduce another situation like MemoGate I think Haqani’s end would be lesson for her and as well as the person who is behind MemoGate .

Well see, you don't understand one key thing...if she is the ambassador to such an important place at such time.......she has lots of power and authority......one of which is the VISA issuing thing......and every time Americans/CIA send a request for VISAs......Sherry Rehman is not gonna call Rawalpindi to talk to Gen Pasha or Kayani......she will falter under pressure and grant them. More CIA agents and Blackwater crap is what Pakistan does NOT need........

 

[VCheng]

Well see, you don't understand one key thing...if she is the ambassador to such an important place at such time.......she has lots of power and authority......one of which is the VISA issuing thing......and every time Americans/CIA send a request for VISAs......Sherry Rehman is not gonna call Rawalpindi to talk to Gen Pasha or Kayani......she will falter under pressure and grant them. More CIA agents and Blackwater crap is what Pakistan does NOT need........

Wait a second! Is it part of ISI/GHQ job to oversee grant of visas? By what law?

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Speaking to the Monitor on her new job, Ms. Rehman said: “It’s a huge challenge and I look forward to bringing my resources and skills to the job, and I hope we can build better ties in the days ahead. Both countries seek stability in the region and we can build on converging goals.”

So far, her appointment has met with approval among Pakistan’s political classes. According to opposition lawmaker Ayaz Amir, “It’s a good choice. Pakistan has an image problem. A serious problem which someone articulate, sophisticated, and with the right background and poise can deal with.”

Rehman, a former magazine editor, became Pakistan’s information minister in 2008 following the country’s return to democracy. She resigned a year later citing curbs on journalists during a judicial crisis, and in doing so elevated her stock among the Pakistani public.

Her parliamentary work on women's and minorities’ rights have helped make her a liberal icon at home. She has also been recognized by US groups, receiving the Jeanne J. Kirkpatrick Award for Women in 2011 and the "Democracy's Hero" award by the International Republican Institute in 2009.

Since the beginning of the year, she has lived under threat of an attack by Islamist extremists for criticizing Pakistan's blasphemy laws and calling for reform. Similar calls for reform led to the assassinations of two other politicians, a former governor, Salman Taseer, and Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian political leader. Following those attacks, Ms. Rehman started traveling with armed guards.

This year she founded an Islamabad-based think tank, the Jinnah Institute, which tracks extremism in the country. The think tank recently issued a report calling for a Pakistan-friendly government in Afghanistan, a view that holds well with the military establishment.

Rehman: US backing of liberal causes in Pakistan can backfire

Her predecessor is currently fighting allegations by a Pakistani-American businessman that he authored a controversial memo calling for US intervention in preventing a coup in Pakistan, and promising a raft of pro-US pledges in return.

In an interview with the Monitor in January, Rehman tackled the subject of US-Pakistan relations, arguing that US backing of liberal causes in Pakistan can at times backfire.

“Sometimes congruence of goals, universal goals are conflated with US goals simply because it casts such a long shadow on the world. Particularly [in] Pakistan, and the drone program doesn’t help that,” she said.

“Pakistanis are very schizophrenic about the US," she added. "They want their children to study there, they understand the benefits of that democracy but they are also very anti-American. Part of that responsibility lies with the US. The rest lies with us because we tend to throw a lot of our failures into that bit as well.”

Pakistan appoints new ambassador to US - CSMonitor.com

As the highlighted excerpts in the article above show, she is indeed a good choice for ambassador, and her views on US-Pak relations appear to be very balanced. Her work on the Jinnah Institute report would indicate that she understand's the Pakistani military's concerns as well.

 

[fd24]

Pakistan appoints new ambassador to US - CSMonitor.com

As the highlighted excerpts in the article above show, she is indeed a good choice for ambassador, and her views on US-Pak relations appear to be very balanced. Her work on the Jinnah Institute report would indicate that she understand's the Pakistani military's concerns as well.

Not only is her role a sensitive one as our relations with the USA are not as strong as they once were. She has also to gel the infrastructure Pakistan has with the politicos and army. Not a post for the faint hearted. Diplomacy and negotiations to the max! I think she may surprise a lot of people and come up with the goods.

 

[Rank]

Sherry Rehman (US Ambassador)
Hina Rabbani Khar (Foreign Minister)
Firdos Ashiq Awan (Federal Minister for Information)
Shazia Mari (Wazeer-e-itelaat Sindh)

is Mulk ka ub ALLAH he Hafiz hey!

 

[W.11]

Sherry Rehman (US Ambassador)
Hina Rabbani Khar (Foreign Minister)
Firdos Ashiq Awan (Federal Minister for Information)
Shazia Mari (Wazeer-e-itelaat Sindh)

is Mulk ka ub ALLAH he Hafiz hey!

 

[sms]

Sherry Rehman (US Ambassador)
Hina Rabbani Khar (Foreign Minister)
Firdos Ashiq Awan (Federal Minister for Information)
Shazia Mari (Wazeer-e-itelaat Sindh)

is Mulk ka ub ALLAH he Hafiz hey!

Do you have personal grudge against females? Why do you think ladies are not able to perform well in roles they are now?
I'm not sure about these ladies listed above, but ladies have done wonders in past and will to better in future

They are definably million times better than Talib/ Mullah regimes.

 

[Fracker]

Wait a second! Is it part of ISI/GHQ job to oversee grant of visas? By what law?

No but for security check is ...

 

[TOPGUN]

A courpt thug running a courpt gov what more can be expected almost all of these women in PPP are of no good class may i say more mr 10% now mr 100% sure does have one hell of a good time shame on this gov fig it out . Can't wait to see a new gov in place soon hopefully Imran Khan for the country and the people so help us GOD.

 

[Mav3rick]

Wait a second! Is it part of ISI/GHQ job to oversee grant of visas? By what law?

It's not their part of job. However, every country puts certain checks on individuals coming in and since we are critical of excessive US staff entering Pakistan, usually involved in highly illegal activities that may even be considered harmful to internal security of Pakistan. So ISI clearance is a necessity, which was not being sought by Haqqani and I believe Sherry Rehman will follow the same path.

A very poor choice, but what else could be expected.

 

[fatman17]

When ‘friends’ fall out over the memo

Ikram Sehgal

Thursday, November 24, 2011


By all accounts Husain Haqqani and Mansoor Ijaz were good friends, and the tone and tenor of the BlackBerry exchanges between them clearly show they made for a lethal combination. The May 10 memo was meant to be a specially crafted “neutron bomb” to (1) change the present national security parameters in Pakistan and bring it into line with long-term US policy imperatives, and (2) enable the present rulers to exercise absolute control of the military. An inquiry would identify and punish the officials responsible for “harbouring bin Laden,” replacing them with a new Pakistani national security leadership that would (1) bring “transparency” and “discipline” to Pakistan’s nuclear programme, (2) eliminate Section S of the ISI, which is “charged with maintaining relations to the Taliban’s Haqqani network” and other rogue elements, and (3) work with the Indian government to punish the perpetrators of the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai.”

When any businessman, not excluding Mansoor Ijaz, engage in backchannel diplomacy, they run the risk of becoming controversial if things go wrong. Friend Husain Haqqani falls frequently in that category with respect to his credibility. The memo was meant to spook the Americans into pre-emptive action: “Civilians cannot withstand much more of the hard pressure being delivered from the army to succumb to wholesale changes. If civilians are forced from power, Pakistan (will) become a sanctuary for OBL’s [Osama bin Laden’s] legacy and potentially the platform for far more rapid spread of Al-Qaeda’s brand of fanaticism and terror. A unique window of opportunity exists for the civilians to gain the upper hand over army and intelligence directorates due to their complicity in the OBL matter.” Mansoor Ijaz states: “Haqqani believed he and the President (Zardari) could redraft the architectural blueprint of how Pakistan should be governed in the future — with civilians in command of the armed forces and intelligence services. A “new national security team” would see Haqqani as the “National Security Advisor.” Over the years many others have harboured that ambition.

While the principal motivating the memo’s creation remains unnamed, “this commitment has the backing of the top echelon on the civilian side of our house.” Everyone and his uncle knows that Haqqani reports directly to the Presidency, either directly to Zardari or through Salman Faruqi. The prime minister and/or the foreign office only come into the loop by default on routine matters, or when their coming into the loop suits Haqqani. The hoopla about the 18th Amendment notwithstanding, Zardari remains an all-powerful president and Salman Faruqi the de facto prime minister, in all but name.

How did Mansoor Ijaz take to being used as a conduit for this rather explosive document that seems to resemble the intent of the Kerry-Lugar Bill? “Haqqani was likely the sole architect of the backchannel intervention and needed a plausibly deniable go-between to make it work. I fit that bill perfectly because he knew the Pakistanis, who have been assassinating my character and diminishing my person for decades, would have at him (Haqqani) with glee if things went wrong. If a leak occurred purposely or accidentally, there was an orchestration to cover our tracks even at that moment because there was always a possibility this could get out.” Mansoor Ijaz confirmed “Haqqani’s reputation as ambassador as being more of America’s ambassador to Pakistan than Pakistan’s ambassador to America.” But he believes “his motives were patriotic,” and saw Haqqani as someone who was much needed in the troubled US-Pakistan relationship.

Haqqani says he did not write or deliver the memo, nor authorised anyone to do so. He does not explain what the Pakistani ambassador to the US was doing in London on a private visit talking to senior British government officials, including Chief of the General Staff Sir David Richards and Mr Tobias Ellwood, then parliamentary secretary for defence, during a most critical time in US-Pakistan relations? To avoid any linkages Haqqani may have tried to route his initiative initially through the British. When the British did not respond, he turned to Mansoor Ijaz and the US route. While the memo was being crafted by Mansoor Ijaz on Haqqani’s prompting, there were calls between Haqqani’s room in Park Lane Intercontinental London and Monaco, where Mansoor Ijaz has a home.

When the Financial Times article brought the memo to light, ISI chief Shuja Pasha went to London and satisfied himself that Mansoor Ijaz’s evidence was prima-facie credible. Thereafter, extensive forensic tests must have verified its credibility before Gen Pasha took the evidence to Gen Kayani. The material being explosive, the COAS must have independently satisfied himself about its contents before he went to the president with the findings.

The real question is whether Haqqani did all this with the permission of his “boss,” or was it an individually conceived “rogue operation”? The data on his many Blackberries and SIMs will likely reveal a treasure trove of information about his various machinations.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto sacked Lt Gen Gul Hasan as army chief on Mar 3, 1972. Until July 5, 1977. when Bhutto was overthrown, the military (and by extension the ISI) was very much under civilian (i.e., Bhutto’s) control. Bhutto was a civilian dictator in all but name and not many know that it was his initiative to make the political cell in the ISI into a regular entity. With the army in the dumps after the May 2 Obama bin Laden raid like it was on the ropes after 1971, Haqqani probably saw this as a golden opportunity to cut the national security apparatus down to size.

Over the years misunderstandings have been deliberately created by motivated individuals to exacerbate the US-Pakistan relationship and build up their own nuisance value. Haqqani has “Haqqani” as priority over everyone and everything else. Haqqani finessed such manipulation into a fine art, exploiting it to his advantage. Bad-mouthing the army and the ISI comes naturally to him. His appointment as Pakistan’s ambassador to the US was a godsend for him, allowing him secondarily to protect the interests of his mentor, Asif Ali Zardari.

The red herring about a possible army coup was pure fabrication, and the overkill is probably why Mullen claims he ignored it. The gist of the memo’s thrust has persisted. A few months later, out of the blue, Mullen accused the ISI of being complicit with the Haqqani network in the attack on the US embassy in Kabul. When every Pakistani was actively condemning Mullen’s statement, including Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN Hussain Haroon, how come “patriot” Husain Haqqani remained absolutely silent?

Haqqani’s resignation should not close the case; he has much to answer for. Moreover Haqqani could not have risked all this without adequate backing. As the Rasputin who runs things for Zardari in Pakistan, the cutout in the Presidency is believed to be Salman Faruqi. Asked on primetime TV a few weeks ago what the army should do to dismantle the Haqqani network in Fata, I said what was really needed was to dismantle the “Haqqani network” in Washington DC.

Now that the US portion has been dealt with, it is time to dismantle the “Haqqani network” in the Presidency.



The writer is a defence and political analyst.

Email: isehgal@pathfinder9.com

 

[Riseup]

The same FO that never formally decided RD's position?

this is another story, this should need to fix in FO, but what do you want to say Ambassador can free to define his/her own foreign policy ?

 

[Windjammer]

Pakistan signals new era in relations with US
'Memogate' controversy is thought to be behind the removal of the long-time ambassador


In a dizzying turn of the revolving door into the Pakistani embassy in Washington, the government in Islamabad said that its long-serving ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, who resigned on Tuesday, is to be replaced by Sherry Rehman, a firebrand campaigner for human rights.

Ms Rehman, 50, is a former journalist, Information Minister under President Ali Asif Zardari and current member of the National Assembly. She briefly went into hiding this year after she campaigned to repeal blasphemy laws that bring the death penalty on those found guilty of insulting Mohamed. She left the government in 2009 in protest at efforts to curb the freedom of the press.

Her appointment comes at a time of deep tension between the United States and Pakistan. It is also the result of swirling, but unproven, allegations that, after the killing of Osama bin Laden, Mr Haqqani allegedly authored a secret memo to the then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington, Admiral Mike Mullen, asking for help from him in blocking the Pakistani military from staging a putative coup.

Mr Haqqani, who had served in Washington since 2008 and was considered by some in Pakistan as an apologist for US policies, stepped down late on Tuesday. "I have resigned to bring closure to this meaningless controversy threatening our fledgling democracy," he said.

While President Zardari may have been pressured by the military to accept the resignation, there was surprise at the choice of Ms Rehman to replace him. She has limited experience of the problems with the US – the Afghan War and the presence of Taliban, al-Qa'ida and allied groups inside Pakistan – and is not considered especially appreciated by the country's generals.

Nonetheless, she has a think tank in Pakistan, the Jinnah Institute, which co-authored an extensive report on Afghanistan that underlined the divergent interests of the US and Pakistan there. "I will perform my duties and responsibilities to further strengthen the relationship with the US while safeguarding the interests of Pakistan, its dignity and sovereignty," she said in a statement.

For his part, Mr Haqqani returns to a tricky future in Pakistan, depending on the outcome of the investigation into so-called "memo- gate". The missive to Admiral Mullen allegedly pleaded for US help to curb the military and its threat to civilian government in Pakistan in return for a pledge that Islamabad would do more to support US interests in the region.

Mr Haqqani insists that he never sent any such memo to anyone in the US administration. A former spokesman to Admiral Mullen has said that while a memo was received its provenance was never established as it was unsigned and it was therefore never taken seriously.

Ms Rehman has close ties to the US, stemming in part from spending some years studying politics and economics here in the 1980s. She will, however, face a delicate challenge developing a working relationship with the US administration at a time when the US is so deeply unpopular at home and when many in Washington have grown suspicious of Pakistan and its motives.

Pakistan signals new era in relations with US - Asia - World - The Independent