'Benazir Bhutto would not have appointed Haqqani as Pakistan's ambassador to US'

KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Qamar-uz-Zaman Kaira  on Wednesday said that former US envoy Hussain Haqqani was involved in the ‘character assassination’ of Benazir Bhutto on the behest of Nawaz Sharif.

Speaking during ARY News program ‘11^th Hour’ on Wednesday, he said that the revelations by Haqqani in a US newspaper were probably an attempt to cement his employment there.

He stated that the question of Haqqani’s involvement was not new, and such issues were raised during the Memogate scandal and investigation into the raid at compound of Osama Bin Laden in Abottabad.

He recalled that Haqqani had shown allegiance and served as a political adviser to Nawaz Sharif in 1988, and was rewarded by being posted as ambassador to Sri Lanka from 1992 to 1993.

Kaira said that during the era, Haqqani worked in a slanderous campaign against Bhutto on the behest of Sharif who later became prime minister.

When asked why Asif Ali Zardari had posted Haqqani to a coveted position such as the ambassador to the United States, he said that Bhutto would never have appointed him.

“We have to make compromises in politics. Benazir and Ms. Nusrat Bhutto had even forgiven those involved in murder of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and were friends of Zia-ul-Haq,” he said.

He dispelled the impression that the presence of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was only allowed during the era of ‘a particular party,’ stating that it was known to exist as far back as during the era of Ayub Khan.

“US is a superpower, it is known to have agents around the world,” he added recalling that even Raymond David who gunned down two people in Lahore was also among them.

He questioned whether a civilian leader had the ability to authorize such deployment of US agents without taking the military establishment into confidence.