India vs Pakistan: Why Can’t we just be Friends? by Husain Haqqani

India vs Pakistan: Why Can’t we just be Friends?: Husain Haqqani

A forthcoming book titled India vs Pakistan: Why Can’t we just be Friends? was in the news in the second week of May 2016. The book is authored by former Pakistani Ambassador to the U.S. Husain Haqqani.

The book on India-Pakistan relations stirred a controversy because it exposed Pakistan's role in the 26/11 terror attacks.

The book recounts the visit by ex-ISI chief General Pasha to Washington on 24 and 25 December 2008, where he made the startling admission. During the visit, General Pasha had admitted to the author that the planners of the 26/11 attacks were “our people” but it was not “our operation”.

Who is Husain Haqqani?

• Husain Haqqani is a Pakistani leading South Asia expert, journalist, academic, political activist and former ambassador of Pakistan to Sri Lanka and the United States.

• He has written two books on Pakistan. These books are Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military, and Magnificent Delusions: Pakistan, the United States, and an Epic History of Misunderstanding.

• He is currently a Senior Fellow and Director for South and Central Asia at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C.

• He worked as a journalist from 1980 to 1988, and then as political adviser for Nawaz Sharif and spokesperson for Benazir Bhutto.

• From 1992 to 1993, he was ambassador to Sri Lanka.

• In 1999, he was exiled following criticisms against the government of then-President Pervez Musharraf.

• He was appointed as Pakistan's ambassador in April 2008, but his tenure ended after the Memogate incident, when the claim was made that he had been insufficiently protective of Pakistan's interests.

• A judicial commission was set up by the Supreme Court of Pakistan to probe the allegations against him. According to commission's report, which was issued in June 2012, he was declared guilty of authoring a memo, which called for direct US intervention into Pakistan. However, Pakistan's Supreme Court noted that the commission was only expressing an opinion.

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