PPP disowns former ambassador to US Husain Haqqani

ISLAMABAD: A senior leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Friday said the party has disassociated itself from former Pakistan Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani or any of his statements.

In a statement, senior leader Farhatullah Babar who also serves as the spokesperson for PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, said Haqqani's views and opinions did not reflect party policy.

Haqqani's statements are his personal opinions and it is wrong to link them to the PPP, Babar said.

Sources privy to the development said the PPP has expelled Husain Haqqani from its ranks over violation of its policies.

Shortly afterwards, Haqqani reacted to Babar's statements in messages posted on his Twitter account.

"Political parties cannot be expected to own scholarly research or analysis just as scholarly work cannot be constrained by party policies," he said in tweets sent to his 229,000 followers.

He said that he joined former PPP leader Benazir Bhutto in 1993 and her stood by the late PPP leader and her husband, co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari in tough times.

"That political contribution to Pakistan politics is sufficient," he said.

"Glad that I can now focus on research and writing without having to worry about ties to PPP or its policies,” he added.

Haqqani, who resides in the US, has recently been at odds with the government in Pakistan over statements critical of Islamabad’s policies.  

He was recently accused of conspiring with Indian lobbyist in Washington in a campaign against the United States sale of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan.

Later, the Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz claimed that a former Pakistani ambassador to the United States was "lobbying against his own country" and "creating hurdles for the government."

Rejecting the claims, Haqqani had said officials in Islamabad should take responsibility for their failed policies instead of looking for scapegoats.

"I am now a scholar in the US, not a lobbyist," Haqqani had said in response to Aziz's statement.

"If my opinions as a scholar carry so much weight that US policy is being affected by them, then the Pakistan Foreign Ministry should try to influence my opinions rather than treating me like a pariah and making false allegations against me in the Pakistani media," he had said.

Haqqani said he was not engaged in lobbying and would never lobby against what "I consider to be the interest of Pakistan.”

He, however, insisted that he is entitled to having a different opinion about what is Pakistan's interest than the Pakistani establishment.

Haqqani is not new to controversy.

In 2011, he was forced to resign as Pakistan's ambassador to the United States after allegations that he was behind a memo that accused the Pakistan army of plotting a coup during the PPP tenure in government.

He has been residing and working in the US as an academic and scholar ever since.