Is It Really Indian Initiative??
By Ali Sukhanver 
Some words are sweet and some are bitter and some are sugar coated. Every word has its own taste and own flavour; If you feel any difficulty in understanding what are the ‘Sugar Coated’ words, just go through the following few lines. I have copied these lines from Face Book page of the Georgetown University. Under the title of Asian Studies, the details of an interview with Mr. Hussain Haqqani have been posted. These lines are written in the introduction to that interview. ‘What does Pakistan’s future hold? Can one imagine a prosperous democratic Pakistan in which sectarian violence is a distant memory and that is recognized as a responsible rising power in international relations? Few people are better suited to answer this question than Ambassador Hussain Haqqani, who served as Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States from 2008-2011.’
Mr. Haqqani is a man of international fame and repute. He worked as a journalist from 1980 to 1988, and then as political adviser to Nawaz Sharif and then spokesperson of Benazir Bhutto. From 1992 to 1993 he was ambassador to Sri Lanka. He had been representing Pakistan in US as Ambassador from 13 April 2008 to 22 November 2011. He was simply a journalist but he enjoyed the status of a diplomat; it was all because of Pakistan. The most fertile period of his life as Ambassador to US came to a tragic ending with the Memogate incident. A judicial commission was set up by the Supreme Court of Pakistan to probe the allegations against him. According to commission’s report, Mr. Haqqani was declared guilty of authoring a memo which called for direct US intervention into Pakistan. At the same time, one thing more came to surface that during his posting as the ambassador in US, he allegedly ignored the interests of his own country and granted Pakistan’s visas to US nationals against the army directives. In short distances and differences between ‘Pakistan’ and Haqqani kept on increasing. Then there came a stage when Mr. Haqqani openly started criticizing Pakistan, system of Pakistan, people of Pakistan and the Armed forces of Pakistan. And now the Georgetown University is introducing the same Mr. Haqqani as the ‘most suitable’ person who could predict the future of Pakistan.
Let us look back at the Georgetown University; this university has recently started a program with the name Georgetown India Initiative. This program is in fact a forum which claims to create a platform for high-level dialogue among American and Indian leaders from government, business, the academy and society. Irfan Noor-u-Din has been appointed as its director. Irfan is so prejudiced and biased in his intense hatred for Pakistan that he leaves no stone unturned in blaming and defaming Pakistan. He is a very close associate of Christine Faire who herself is considered an authority on ‘Anti-Pakistan Desires’. Christine Fair is an associate professor in the Peace and Security Studies Program, within Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. On 27th of the last month, unfortunately and unknowingly the Georgetown University provided a golden opportunity of sitting together to Mr. Husain Haqqani, Irfan Noor-u-Din and Christine Fair, the three ‘Friends of Pakistan’ at an event titled ‘Re-imagining Pakistan’. And these three along with so many others of the same mental tilt ‘Re-imagined’ Pakistan according to their dreams and desires. The situation compels one to think if this so-called Georgetown India Initiative program has another face behind the veil same as allegedly David Headley claims to have. It is also something very much astonishing that a forum which claims that its aim is to strengthen research, teaching and outreach to India is organizing such discussions on Pakistan.
