A US state department official has approached a former Pakistani parliamentarian, known for his contacts with Islamic militants, to ask him to serve as a bridge between Washington, the Taliban and their Arab comrades, a source close to the former member of Pakistan's National Assembly Javed Ibrahim Paracha said. The Americans however have denied that any meeting took place between the visiting US official and Paracha.Paracha confirmed his meeting with Karen Hughes, US under-secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs at the state department, and US military officials at Islamabadâs Serena Hotel last Friday but declined to give details. He said he would reveal details of what had transpired at the meeting in a couple of days. Following his meeting with US officials, he had put in a request to see Pakistan army Corps Commander Peshawar, Lieutenant-General Muhammad Hamid Khan, to discuss the US proposition, he said. The meeting took place on Thursday. He said that he shared with Hamid details of his meeting with the US officials and was now awaiting for a response from the federal government.
A spokesman for the Pakistan Army in Peshawar confirmed Parachaâs meeting with the corps commander but sought to play down its importance, saying the former parliamentarian was among several visitors to the Corps Headquarters. "It was a general call-on day and he was one of the many who had requested and had a meeting with the corps commander," the spokesman said. He did not volunteer anything more about the subject matter of the meeting.
The Americans, however, denied Hughesâ meeting with the former parliamentarian from Kohat. "No meeting with local politicians from that region took place at all. There was nothing in the schedule that would suggest such a meeting. I cannot confirm this," Peter Kovach, spokesman at the US embassy in Islamabad told the Pakistani daily Dawn. An angry Paracha, confronted with the US denial, shot back and said he would name the other US officials present at the meeting and reveal details of the talks in a couple of days. The former parliamentarian, however, said that the visiting Americans also had a separate meeting with the former director-general of Pakistan's intelliegence agency, ISI, General Hamid Gul.
The source close to Paracha said the US team had asked him to serve as a bridge between them, the Taliban and other Arab militants fighting an insurgency against the US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan. "The Americans wanted Mr Paracha to talk to the Taliban and possibly the Arabs in Afghanistan to stop suicide bombings," the source said. He said the Americans told the ex-parliamentarian that they had tried asking former Taliban foreign minister Wakeel Ahmad Mutawakil and the former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, to talk to their former colleagues. But the Taliban spurned the US overture due to their lack of trust in their former colleagues, the source said. "The Americans said they then forwarded Mr Parachaâs name as a contact person and the Taliban agreed," the source claimed. The Paracha's claim could not be independently verified.
The former member of the National Assembly, who is a lawyer by profession, shot to prominence when he filed a writ petition in the Peshawar High Court to challenge the extradition of over 100 al-Qaeda militants caught inside Pakistan while fleeing Tora Bora in Afghanistan, soon after the ousting of the Taliban regime in 2001.
| Sounds like a bit of self-agrandizing by a big frog in a small pond. I'd guess he offered his services to the assistant deputy under-attache and was listened to politely. |
| Followup: (Boy, can I call 'em!) |
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Javed Ibrahim Paracha has said he met American businessmen and not US government officials on November 14 in Islamabad. Talking to Daily Times on Friday, Paracha said, âI met US businessmen who were visiting Pakistan in connection to the October 8 earthquake. There was no US government official at the meeting. I was told was that US Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes was also staying at the same hotel. I did not meet her, but saw her from close.â| "Really! I could almost have touched the hem of her dress!" |