Husain Haqqani at UC Berkeley

The Center for South Asia Studies at UC Berkeley and the Pakistan Education Foundation hosted one of Pakistan’s (internationally) acclaimed journalists, advisor to two Prime Ministers and once also an ambassador for the country in Sri Lanka, Mr. Husain Haqqani on November 21, 2002 at Dwinelle Hall on the UC campus. Mr. Haqqani who is also currently a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, focused his presentation on the topic of “America’s New Alliance with Pakistan: Avoiding the Traps of the Past”.

It would be safe to begin this report by stating that it turned out to be quite an evening for some of us who wanted to test the Haqqani intellect and for those who retain an active interest in the future of the South Asian region. Campus academics, students from Pakistan, of Pakistani heritage and some Indians attended this event.

Mr. Haqqani has the distinction for being a columnist not only for The Nation newspaper from Lahore but he is also a regular writer for the Indian Express. In addition to these his work is seen from time to time in the International Herald Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe and Gulf News. Mr. Haqqani is now also a familiar figure on American TV, as he has recently appeared to comment on Pakistan, Afghanistan and extremism on CNN, NBC and ABC news.

After a brief introduction by Professor Steven Poulos, Mr. Haqqani went directly into the matter at hand, the Pakistani-US relationship. He pointed out that while Pakistan and the United states have historically had a very close relationship, the strategic concerns of the two countries have been different. The US had been concerned with checking the growth of Communism in the past and is targeting terrorism today, a quest in which it has had the help of Pakistan (which continues), but that Pakistan’s own strategic concerns have always had India as the adversary in mind. He pointed out that after 9/11 Pakistan had to give up on the Taliban but it has not been willing to give up on Kashmir.

He said that at Independence in 1947, Pakistan inherited 33% of the Army and only 17% of the assets of British India so “the military was to have primacy” for the start.

Mr. Haqqani gave a background as to the reason for the abandonment of secular thinking in Pakistan after the defeat at the hands of India in 1971 resulting in the birth of Bangladesh. He said that since 1971 there was a re-evaluation of what the glue should be that holds Pakistan together. He gave examples of the notorious Al Shams and Al Badr Islamic groups that assisted the Pakistani Military in 1971 in then East Pakistan, and how the army created these strategic forces within committed Islamists to form what he called “The Mosque-Military Alliance”. “Even the US at the time did not mind the Islamists as a force against Communism,” he said.

On the current situation Mr. Haqqani said that Pakistan today collects rent due to its strategic location and that Pakistan is doing this (rent collection) for the third time.

He said that Kashmir was a genuine problem between India and Pakistan and that some of the same tactics and assets that were used in Afghanistan against the Soviets were transferred to Kashmir to fight against India.

He dwelt at length on the usefulness of Pakistan to the United States in the region but he also pointed out that once the US starts focusing its attention elsewhere (Iraq) things could change rapidly. He said that the recent improvement in the Pakistani economy was due to the impact of the US presence post 9/11 when sanctions were lifted and the monies that Pakistan received for the use of its facilities by the United States and the whole war effort had helped boost up the country’s foreign exchange reserves.

Mr. Haqqani argued that it was due to the “India-Centered” nature of Pakistani military policy, that the country has suffered greatly. He said that the economic imbalance with India was growing further. “The imbalance (with India) is at a level now that Pakistan has to revisit its relationship with India,” he said. He added that although Pakistan is a South Asian country, its military has always had a Middle Eastern orientation. “South Asian overall culture is a democratic culture,” he said, to a point where even though today Pakistan is the exception, its military government cannot behave like some Middle Eastern (despotic) governments. He said that the US and Pakistan have close ties but the US economic interest lies more with India and that change has to come from the Pakistani (military) side now to improve the situation in Pakistan’s interest.

Mr. Haqqani ended his speech with the following suggestions: 1) The US needs to encourage Pakistan to return to free (not guided by the military) democracy. 2) An effort needs to be made for the resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan.

There the US pressure needs to be applied on India. “There can be normalization without resolution to Kashmir, but dialogue must start on all issues including Kashmir,” he said. He added that poverty in India was decreasing while it was increasing in Pakistan, which due to its policies has not been able to attract any substantial direct foreign investment. “It is time for Pakistan to move on and not be held back by conflict with India,” he said.

A lively question and answer session followed the speech. A similar gathering was held at Stanford University on November 22nd, followed by an informal get-together the next day in Sacramento to close Mr. Haqqani’s visit to the area. A word of thanks is in order to Dr. Khawaja Ashraf for arranging all of these events.

In conclusion, there were many words of wisdom embedded in this speech. I did try and corner Haqqani Sahib with a tough question of my own but his sharp mind and famous (and legendary) Karachi University wit bounced it off with ease. My question (roughly) was, now that America is no longer supporting Islamic militants post 9/11, some in Pakistan wish that its support for the Musharraf regime is part of a welcome “damage control” phase of its policies towards Pakistan. I just wondered if there was any justification to this wish? But it appears that maybe today only someone from the Bush Administration can really answer this question for us?