Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani has sent a notice of defamation to Nawa-i-Waqt Group of publications for publishing a column that alleged that he is a US citizen.The notice sent by Haqqani’s lawyer, Advocate Akhtar Awan, states that on September 26, the daily Nawa-i-Waqt published a defamatory column that claimed, among other things, that Pakistan’s ambassador to the US held a nationality other than the nationality of Pakistan. The states that the column written by Muhammad Ajmal Niazi was defamatory and propagated a deliberate lie with the view to malign the Pakistani ambassador. According to Article 8 of the Defamation Ordinance 2002, publishing an untrue claim is subject to libel and defamation proceedings.
According to Haqqani’s lawyer, the false allegation had damaged his reputation and his ability to function for the good of Pakistan as its representative in the United States at a critical juncture. The legal notice stressed that Husain Haqqani had never held, obtained or applied for citizenship status in the United States or any country other than Pakistan, had sometimes worked overseas like millions of patriotic Pakistanis while maintaining his commitment to and citizenship of Pakistan. The notice asked the writer, Ajmal Niazi, Editor-in-Chief Majid Nizami, and Printer-Publisher Ramiza Majid Niazmi to publish a prominently placed apology or present proof, if they have any, to substantiate their allegation within 14 days of the receipt of the notice.
Haqqani’s lawyer concluded by saying that if an apology was not published within the stipulated period, the writer of the defamatory article, as well as the editor, publisher and printer, would be pursued in the courts of Pakistan and in other countries, where the publication may be read online or otherwise, for damages to the tune of one billion rupees.Husain Haqqani has taken over as Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States in Washington, DC. A trusted advisor of former Pakistani Prime Minsiter, Ms Benazir Bhutto, Ambassador Haqqani is known as a Professor at Boston University and former Director of the Center for International Relations. He is also the Co-Chair of the Hudson Institute's Project on the Future of the Muslim World as well as editor of the journal ‘Current Trends in Islamist Thought' published from Washington DC.
Haqqani came to the U.S. in 2002 as a Visiting Scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington DC and an adjunct Professor at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University. He is a leading journalist, diplomat, and former advisor to Pakistani Prime ministers. His syndicated column is published in several newspapers in South Asia and the Middle East, including Oman Tribune, Jang, The Indian Express, Gulf News and The Nation (Pakistan).Haqqani started his journalism career with work as East Asian correspondent for Arabia - The Islamic World Review and Pakistan and Afghanistan correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review . During this period he wrote extensively on Muslims in China and East Asia and Islamic political movements. Covering the war in Afghanistan enabled him to acquire deep understanding of the militant Jihadi groups.Haqqani has contributed to numerous international publications, including The Wall Street Journal , The New York Times , International Herald Tribune, Foreign Policy, The Los Angeles Times, The New Republic and The Financial Times . He regularly comments on Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Islamic politics and extremism on BBC, PBS, CNN, NBC, Fox News and ABC.Haqqani also had a distinguished career in government. He served as an advisor to Pakistani Prime ministers Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, Nawaz Sharif, and Benazir Bhutto. From 1992 to 1993 he was Pakistan's ambassador to Sri Lanka.Mr Haqqani's 2005 book ‘Pakistan Between Mosque and Military' has been praised in major international journals and newspapers as a path-breaking book on Pakistan's political history. The book received favorable reviews in Foreign Affairs , Wall Street Journal , Boston Globe, and academic journals and has sold more copies than any other book on Pakistan in the last decade.Other recent publications include Pakistan: Avoiding the Traps of the Past (Policy brief, Carnegie Endowment, 2002); The Gospel of Jihad (Foreign Policy magazine, September-October 2002); Islam's Medieval Outposts (Foreign Policy, November-December 2002; The American Mongols (Foreign Policy, May-June 2003); Islam's Weakened Moderates (Foreign Policy, July-August 2003); Political Islam beyond the Middle East: Pakistan and Afghanistan (in ‘Political Islam: Challenges for U.S. Policy', Aspen Institute, July 2003), Think Again: The Causes of Islamist Terrorism (Foreign Policy, January 2006).
