If any significant achievement emerges out of Tuesday’s enquiry meeting attended by the country’s civil-military top brass into the “memogate”, it is Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani who has emerged as the major trouble shooter, equally acceptable to the military establishment and President Asif Ali Zardari, while he also managed to accommodated Sherry Rehman, who he wanted to accommodate since long.
A highly-placed source claims that it was Gilani who convinced President Asif Ali Zardari to visit PM’s House for the meeting and to sack his close associate Hussain Haqqani as a damage-control measure.
“The prime minister is pleased to appoint Sherry Rehman as the new ambassador to the US,” spokesman for the Prime Minister’s office confirmed.
“Prime Minister Gilani has also been instrumental in convincing the army chief about appointing a PPP nominee as ambassador to the US instead of a career diplomat to clear the air about differences between the government and the military. Finally, the prime minister convinced General Ashfaq Kayani to appoint Sherry as ambassador to Washington on Tuesday, while President Asif Ali Zardari was also taken onboard. This arrangement served purposes of all – the army chief and PM Gilani – who wanted to accommodate Sherry Rehman since long but could not as President Zaradri was opposed to it,” the source added. Sherry had been sidelined by PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari after she tendered resignation as information minister on March 14, 2009 to protest government’s gags on a leading media group.
Recently, the prime minister had appointed her as the chairperson of Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS).
Another source in the PPP claimed that though Zardari was on the back foot, he would surely bounce back soon.
“Let us see how this probe gets to a conclusion. Until then, the president would remain silent but afterwards, there might be some payback time as the president is a fighter and he would never give in,” added the source.
The venue of the meeting to decide the fate of Hussain Haqqani also hinted how things had went against the plan conceived by the Presidency and the meeting took place at the PM’s House, despite the fact that president was supreme commander of the armed forces and his office should have been the meeting place.
Defence analyst Syed Hassan Askari Rizvi said the entire episode had brought about a “slight remission” in clout of the president, as allegations were levelled against the Presidency, not the prime minister.
“Yes, the prime minister has gained as he was not the Haqqani’s link and rather it was the president. Taking advantage of the situation, he also got appointed Sherry, who was not in the good books of Zardari. To some extent, the army chief has also accommodated Gilani by accepting Sherry’s appointment. But in my view, military is a true winner out of this controversy and it has build pressure on the civilian government. Since political parties were against the government and instead of reconciling with politicians, the government decided to reconcile with the military,” he said.
He said that the appointment of Sherry was “highly political” and the new ambassador faced huge challenges ahead. “The major issues between Pakistan and US are the same as trust deficit is yet to be plugged. So this appointment would not affect Pakistan-US ties. Sherry would have to break the barriers raised by the “memogate”, as the US administration, the Pentagon and US think-tanks would not open up with her immediately, as her credibility is also at stake,” he said. Rizvi said it was being assessed that a career diplomat would be appointed as ambassador to the US so that he could serve the military and civilian administration equally.
“Though this appointment is a surprise for many, it reflects that Sherry has also won support of the military establishment,” he added.