Former ambassador to the Unites States Hussain Haqqani on Tuesday pleaded ‘not guilty’ before the Abbottabad commission regarding his alleged role in issuing thousands of visas to US citizens without getting clearance from intelligence agencies, and his alleged knowledge of the US raid against Osama Bin Laden in May.
The former envoy appeared before the commission at the Cabinet Division and faced tough questions from the commission members, an official source told Pakistan Today. Haqqani also told the commission that no Pakistani had any knowledge about the US raid in Abbottabad. Despite repeated attempts, Haqqani avoided talking about the commission’s proceedings. A close aide of Haqqani said the former ambassador had been forbidden to talk to the media by his lawyer Asma Jahangir.
“Prior to Haqqani’s questioning, the commission held a panel discussion with four former directors general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), namely General (r) Asad Durani, General (r) Ehsanul Haq, Lt General (r) Javed Ashraf Qazi, and Lt General (r) Nasim Rana for their input and to understand the role of the intelligence agency,” the source said.
While responding to the allegations levelled by Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Shaikh Rashid about the alleged issuance of around 15,000 visas to Americans, including spies, Haqqani denied the charge, saying he had never issued unauthorised visas in the three years and five months he had served as ambassador. “Different media reports cited different figures ranging from a low of 4,000 to a high of 16,000, resulting in an ‘urban myth’. Let me state clearly for the record that these wild allegations are totally baseless and refuted completely by the official record,” Haqqani asserted. He said that at no stage did any government department, including the ISI and the Interior Ministry, or the Joint Services Headquarters (JSHQ) that deals with the security aspects of visas, write to the embassy or the ambassador to record the allegations published in the media and publicised by some political personalities.
“In fact, the official record will reflect that the embassy was very conservative in issuing visas and at one point (from April to June, 2010) held back all those visas which were not cleared from Islamabad. This created a backlog and also resulted in a political issue with the US government that was resolved after the prime minister authorised the ambassador to use some discretion in issuing visas, vide his letter dated July 14, 2010,” Haqqani said, referring to the letter mentioned by the AML chief.
Haqqani said that even after being authorised, the embassy continued to refer visa applications of US officials from the military and allied branches to the respective security agencies. However, Haqqani admitted that he had twice received official communication questioning the issuance of visas to the Americans.
“The first objection was raised on January 6, 2011 based on the DCC’s (Defence Committee of the Cabinet) expression of concern resulting from media reports, to which I replied in detail on January 18, 2011, along with annexure. No further criticism or concern was reported back by the Foreign Office after receiving my explanation. On February 19, 2011, the Foreign Office forwarded a letter from JSHQ listing 72 US military personnel who had visas but were not present in the JSHQ records,” the former envoy explained.
“I responded to that letter on March 11, pointing out that the 72 persons listed in the JSHQ letter were all members of US military delegations and their visas were either requested by, or authorised by the Defence Wing of the embassy. The JSHQ’s response to that letter confirmed that the embassy had not acted irresponsibly or without authorisation,” Haqqani argued, referring to the documentary proof attached with his statement.
About the US raid on the former Al Qaeda chief, Haqqani said he was on his way to Islamabad via London and Dubai when the operation was being conducted, and that he heard about it upon landing at Heathrow airport on May 2. “I was instructed to immediately turn around, which I did, and returned to Washington by around 5pm local time,” he said.
Haqqani said that he had fully defended the country’s interests following the Abbottabad raid and played a role to ensure that the US government, Congress and media do not blame Pakistan’s government, armed forces or intelligence agencies for allowing Bin Laden in the country, as that would have been a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions 1267 and 1373.
“I protested against the violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty by US forces and pointed out how that had violated the norms of international conduct between two sovereign countries. I faithfully and diligently carried out my duties. I met with the US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the deputy national security adviser to the US president to register protest over the violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty,” he said.
The former envoy added that the public opinion in the US and Pakistan was against each other, which had made his job more difficult and that he faced problems while lobbying for his country.
