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Why General Jehangir Karamat
Falls From Grace?
General
Jehangir Karamat, General Musharraf’s former boss and Pakistan’s
envoy to Washington, is leaving his position without completing
his usual three year ambassadorial tenure. General Mahmud
Durrani is coming to Washington as his replacement.
According to news, General Jehangir Karamat’s
fall from grace with general Musharraf became evident when he
did not go back to Islamabad to be part of official activities
during President Bush’s recent visit. As Pakistan’s Ambassador
to the United States, General Jehangir Karamat was supposed to
be present in Islamabad to help through official briefings.
General Jehangir Karamat was at good terms
with Musharraf that is why he appointed him ambassador to the
United States and regardless of being senior to Musharraf he
accepted this appointment.
Many people wonder what went wrong. Why
General Jehangir Karamat is leaving his position prematurely
without completing his tenure?
General Jehangir Karamat is an ineffective
ambassador. His performance as ambassador is far inferior to his
predecessor Dr. Maleeha Lodhi, a journalist turned diplomat. She
is now serving as Pakistan’s High Commissioner to England.
But is it General Jehangir Karamat’s
performance or something else which created differences between
General Musharraf and General Jehangir Karamat?
Two years ago when General Jehangir Karamat
took over as Ambassador, Pakistan Weekly editorialized his 20
million dollar kickback in tanks deal in Ukraine story and
asked the general to clear his name before taking over as
ambassador. One of the Washington based journalists asked
General Jehangir Karamat about the Pakistan Weekly editorial and
20 million dollars kickback story.
General Jehangir Karamat confided in
Washington based journalist that General Musharraf had made up
this story to create wedge between the then Prime Minister Mian
Nawaz Sharif and him to get him fired.
Pakistan Weekly Editor-in-Chief broke this
story to Mian Shahbaz Sharif at the eve of arrival of Mian Nawaz
Sharif in England in a large gathering with many journalists and
Pakistan Government informers present over there.
Before this news reached to General
Musharraf, he was already getting disillusioned with General
Jehagir Karamat’s performance and the pro democracy statements
he was making in different gatherings. General Musharraf had the
worst tour of his career to the United States last year while
General Jehangir Karamat was ambassador in Washington. The news
broken by Pakistan Weekly’s Editor-in-Chief about the charges
General Jehangir Karamat made against General Musharraf in a
private discourse causes him lose his job as ambassador.
What happened to General Jehangir Karamat as
COAS or as Ambassador of Pakistan to Washington is a different
story. The real question is: is Pakistan going to benefit from
another general’s appointment as ambassador to Washington?
We doubt Pakistan will benefit from General
Mahmud Durrani’s appointment as ambassador. Be it US-Pakistan
relations or internal situation, with these generals at the helm
of affairs, Pakistan will continue sliding down hill.
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