Washington hosted a gathering over the weekend of progressive intellectuals, human rights activists, Congressmen and media persons to discuss ‘Pakistan: After the Elections’, organized by a forum called SAATH (South Asians Against Terrorism and for Human Rights).
The event was co-hosted by Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s former ambassador to Sri Lanka and the United States and columnist Mohammad Taqi. This is the third such annual conference for SAATH; the first two were held in London.
Speaking on the final afternoon of the conference, Mr. Haqqani said many overseas do not like any discussion of negative facts about Pakistan and call it ‘Pakistan bashing’.
“It would constitute Pakistan bashing to say Pakistan cannot do better,” Congressman Brad Sherman, who will head the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Asia in the new US Congress said in his remarks. (Mr. Sherman also mentioned the misuse of sedition laws in India).
Before the final afternoon session started, at least two men appeared in the lobby area outside the conference hall and words were exchanged with the organizers including Mr. Haqqani around the issue of “bashing” Pakistan.
Later, one of the men, identified as Sajjad Burki, was seen outside the hotel with several others holding placards that called Mr. Haqqani a “traitor”. A business card Mr. Burki gave The Hindu identified him as President of PTI USA, LLC . PTI or Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is Imran Khan’s party. One placard read, “Haqani [sic] agenda = RAW agenda.”
“Mainstreaming” terrorism
In his introductory remarks on Sunday afternoon, Mr. Haqqani said, “A nation should be its people, not just one institution that dominates all aspects of life,”. Mr. Haqqani said this in the context of Pakistan’s military might but lagging human development indicators — such as literacy.
He also referred to the “mainstreaming” of terrorists and a conference declaration “demanded that action be taken against hate groups and extremist organisations like the TLP and JuD/LeT, SSP/AWSJ/LeJ, ostensibly being mainstreamed by the security establishment.”
Mr. Sherman added that he thinks the cutbacks in U.S. aid to Pakistan will not be “restored to major levels” until Dr. Shakil Afridi, who had helped the U.S. capture Osama bin Laden, is released. Mr. Sherman spoke of the willingness to consider a prisoner swap to get Dr. Afridi to the U.S. and said that the U.S “almost has a veto power on IMF loans” and told David Malpaas, the U.S’s IMF representative, that any IMF loan cannot be used by Pakistan to pay off its debts to China .
Expressing its concern over Pakistan’s drift towards authoritarianism, the conference “denounced the growing tendency of the state to use the superior judiciary and the National Accountability Bureau for political witch-hunts.”
“The new government of Prime Minister Imran Khan has exposed itself through a series of U-turns, immature claims and outlandish promises, which has become a source of alarm at home and abroad about the government’s capacity and aptitude to tackle Pakistan’s complex problems, as well as their spill-over in the South Asian region and across the world.” the declaration said.
It also denounced the blocking of websites including Voice of America in various languages (Pashto Deewa and Urdu) and the pressure on media houses to engage in self-censorship and “official attempts to generate ‘positive reporting’ through coercion will neither improve Pakistan’s image nor address Pakistan’s deep underlying problems.”
The participants “reaffirmed their commitment to work towards a democratic and pluralistic Pakistan which is at peace with itself and its neighbours,” as per the declaration.