Hussain Haqqani nominated in FIRs over hate speech: report

PESHAWAR: Former ambassador to the United States (US) Hussain Haqqani was nominated in FIRs [First Information Report] lodged by three people in two police stations of Kohat on Sunday for delivering hate speeches and writing books and articles against armed forces and the sovereignty of Pakistan, according to a report by a private media outlet.

The three FIRs were registered in Cantonment and Bilitang police stations in Momin, Muhammad Asghar and Shamsul Haq.

The Bilitang police said that Asghar stated in the FIR that Haqqani was a “mentor of the Memogate scandal” and had issued visas to CIA and Indian agents while serving as Pakistani ambassador to the US.

Asghar further alleged that Haqqani maligned Pakistan in the books he wrote which proved that he was a traitor.

The sections of the Pakistan Penal Code applied by police in the FIRs are 120B (hatching a criminal conspiracy) and 121A (waging a war against Pakistan). The complainants asserted that the former ambassador had caused irreparable loss to the country and defamed it.

He was also criticised by the parliament for his column in The Washington Post in which he had written that he had helped the US forces in eliminating Osama bin Laden when the government and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had been kept in the dark about the secret operation.

In a reaction that was published in a section of the press, Haqqani stated that instead of such acts, the government needs to answer questions he raised in his books and articles. He suggested that the complainants read his books as it could be helpful to them.

High-ranking police officials in Kohat were reluctant to comment on the FIR’s and their contents but an official stated that as per procedure, the concerned police station needs to take steps to arrest the accused and in case of reluctance, a legal procedure should be adopted to declare the accused as a proclaimed offender.

Senior most lawyer Latif Afridi when contacted told this scribe that all three FIR’s against Hussain Haqqani are of no any importance. “Even if Haqqani is making remarks in conferences at US and London, Pakistan’s law enforcing agencies having no any jurisdiction in these foreign countries.”

He also emphasised that common people suffer due to such FIR’s when justice is delayed to them and that the armed forces and judiciary is making attempts to influence the existing situation.