Govt picks Sherry for Washington post

By
Hussain
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41
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Hushing up speculation as to who would succeed Husain Haqqani as Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani appointed on Wednesday another Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) loyalist and former information minister Sherry Rehman as Pakistan’s new envoy to Washington, suggesting that the appointment was still a prerogative of the political government even after the explosive situation it faced following the emergence of the secret memo that appeared to threaten
civil-military relations.
Haqqani was removed on Tuesday when he was confronted by Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, in the presence of President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani, for his “involvement” in the memo controversy.
Sherry Rehman, who, after she had resigned as information minister, was
considered close to the prime minister since she was said to have lost the confidence of President Zardari for taking a position different from his on media-related issues, emerged as a dark horse and her appointment clearly suggested that she was approved by all for the important responsibility at a time when Islamabad’s relations with Washington have plummeted.
Nevertheless, she will have to face a daunting task of being the Pakistani envoy in the world’s most important capital and improving Pakistan-US relations, which suffered a serious blow after differences erupted between the two countries following al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden’s killing in a covert US raid in Abbottabad on May 2.
Talking to reporters on Wednesday after her appointment as the new ambassador, Sherry said: “We all have to forge a progressive, dynamic Pakistan out of the ashes that are often left to us by the fire of terrorism and by the fire of extremism.”
Earlier, a press statement from the prime minister’s office said: “Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has appointed Ms Sherry Rehman as Pakistan’s Ambassador to United States of America.” Sherry also called on the prime minister and discussed matters relating to her diplomatic assignment.
She is a member of the National Assembly and currently serving as chairwoman of the Pakistan Red Crescent Society. Sherry Rehman, 50, is a senior PPP leader and has been a vocal supporter of civilian supremacy in the country. She resigned as information minister in March 2009 owing to her opposition to the Presidency’s move to order cable operators to block a private TV channel because of its criticism of government policies.
The new Pakistani ambassador is the founding president of the Jinnah Institute in Islamabad, an independent public policy institute committed to regional peace and inclusive democracy in Pakistan.
She also co-chairs several track-two strategic dialogues with India, and is convener of a similar institutionalised dialogue process to be held between Pakistan and Afghanistan later this year. She lectures widely on strategic security challenges facing Pakistan, and is a key member of the legislative councils that govern both Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Sherry Rehman is also the former editor of leading English magazine Herald and her background as a journalist for some 20 years has given her wide media outreach as an incumbent second-term lawmaker with a frontline public position against religious extremism.
The appointment of Sherry Rehman left some observers in surprise as they were expecting the army, which supposedly pressured the government to oust Haqqani from the ambassador’s office in Washington, to push for the appointment of a retired senior army officer as the new envoy.
Pakistan’s new envoy to the US was also close to slain PPP chairwoman and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and was in the same motorcade with her when Bhutto was assassinated in a suicide attack in December 2007. She was, however, not injured in the bombing.
She came under heavy criticism from hardline religious elements in the country when she started speaking against rising militancy and also the flaws that she saw in the blasphemy law. She had to go abroad for a while in the wake of the assassination of former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer and even after her return she had to live under heavy protection.
Haqqani, who also met Sherry Rehman on Wednesday, expressed his best wishes for the new ambassador and later tweeted: “Ah! To wake up in my motherland, without the burden of conducting Pakistan’s most difficult external relationship.” He also called Sherry a “dedicated democrat”.
In her press briefing, Sherry also hailed the services of Haqqani and said that he had served his country well. “[Haqqani] has gracefully tendered his resignation because he doesn’t want to tarnish the country’s image just because he became controversial. But this doesn’t mean he has admitted any involvement in the memo scandal.”

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41 COMMENTS

    • and effectively out from (to some politicians' comfort) domestic political scene. Called "killing two birds in one stone"…

  9. Lets see where this cloak and dagger game leads to with the lady walking the corridors of the WhiteHouse and State Department.

  14. LANNAT HON PPP APP PAR SIRAF WOMEN KO NAMUISH KILI PAISH KARTI HON LANATI PARTY PPP HATE YOU
    HINA RABBANI MAKE KA DABA HAMARA EXTERAL MINSITER HIAN
    SHIRI REHMAN ABI AMBISIDOR HIAN LANAT HON TUM PAR KABI YE PAKISTAN TIGER KA MULK THA G.ZIA ULHUQ G.AYOU KHAN BHUTTO SAIB, GHULUM ISKHAQ AJ KAL YE GHIDARON KA MULK HAIN

  15. Guys you dont get it . This move represents that Z wants to have his most trusted person in Washington. The only way he thinks he can survive and not by doing good for people of Pakistan or by reducing corruption.

  16. Ambassador to US should be appointed by the Foreign Office . Why is the PM doing this job?
    And i disagree with you guys above.I think Sherry is not the best choice for such a position until and unless of course if you want a dummy who just takes orders and presents the country's state of affairs as on the paper .Even today we have effective lobbyists like Salman Bashir who has done a fine job in China and is experienced unlike her.

  19. lol Gilani had rubed her mistakenly, his hand had gone so far to a heavenly place that he would still keep dreaming.

  22. Sherry Rahman is a good choice as far as an appointment of a political individual is concerned. Hussain Haqqani and before him Maleha Lodhi both belonged to the media. These individuals served their political godfathers, more than the country. The only difference here is that Sherry Rahman has had credibility in the past and has taken a stand on principles. With her in Washington, there would no longer be a tiff or a tussle between our Ambassador and our Permanent Representative to UN. They will have better co-ordination and devote their energies to serve their country.Let us all hope she does a good job and serve Pakistan to the best of her capability.

  23. What a eulogy on Ms Sherry Rehman (SHahar Bano Rehman)

    Tariq Khan,

    I can only as follows:

    Ameen, suma ameen.

    Let's do fateha now.

  24. sherry…some sort of wine right?..maybe mullahs thought a women beggar looks better than a male beggar ..since she will go usa to beg ..anyway..mohammad hid behind his numerous women…osama hid behind women…and now entire pak is also hiding behind women…what else is new???

    • We all hide behind a woman, and that woman is called a mother too, in a mothers lap. I guess you were born yourself, may be some of kind a new test tube baby experiment, who did not require a woman's body to grow and therefore produced in a lab. I am really sorry that you could not experience a woman's (your mothers) so i cannot judge and blame you for your comment.
      P.s Yoy are new and unique. 😉 adios!

  27. It seems every government needs a media PR person to project them in Washington. In the process the vital national interests become auume a seconday status. Sherry is a well read, educated lady, but she has to explain her cordial close contacts with former Admiral Mansoor Ul Haq, when he was in service and the allegations against her. Her husband is also alleged to be a US national.

  28. Ms. Rehman is a good choice. A person with a good brain, sincere heart and a really good looking woman too. Pakistan will at least show a more attractive face to all those US Senators and Congressmen. With Ms. Rabbani as FM. people might actually start thinking Pakistan deserves to be listened to if only because the women are stunning;y beautiful

  29. @Dar– This theory of a soft image by appointing women of good looks, wearing branded items that cost a fortune, does not serve the purpose. It is an insult to Sheery Rahman, if this is the criteria of chosing her. An Ambassador represents the country and should be seen representing the people of a nation both by her choice of clothes, or the manner in which they carry themselves. Just look at the ambassadors of India, the clothes they wear and the image they project. Why do our ruling elite suffer from a complex.

  32. A brave woman…has my support!!Has more guts and charm than most!!Pakistan needs men and women like her!! Go for it Sherry and may the gods smile upon you!!

  33. She proved herself worthy of the position. She was far better than Haqqani, Abida Hussain, and the retired generals who were her predecessors in office. Rest is history.

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