His first choice was a military-basher with no record of court successes. His second choice is Raymond Davis’s lawyer. But he’s no good either. Did Haqqani’s friends in US government suggest this choice?
MAKHDOOM BABAR SULTAN | Monday | 16 January 2011 | Daily Mail of Pakistan
PakNationalists.com
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—Soon after his return to Pakistan, former ambassador to Unites States Hussain Ahmad Haqqani formed a team of lawyers to defend him in court. But his choices are interesting.
He first picked former President of Supreme Court Bar Association Asma Jehangir.
Ms. Jehangir does not enjoy a distinguished career as a lawyer. There are no major success attached to her professional career and there are no stunning victories in courtrooms to mention. She is well known for defending some victims of the Blasphemy Law and for her constant bashings of the Pakistani military and ISI in her capacity as an NGO activist. This anti-Pakistan attitude makes her very famous in India and US.
Apart from that, nothing in Ms. Jehangir’s career would qualify her to fight a case of Memogate’s importance where Mr. Haqqani, the chief defendant, faces possible indictment for treason. And yet he chose her to represent him. As expected, she couldn’t handle the case and abandoned her client and blamed it on ISI, as usual.
Now Mr. Haqqani has chosen Mr. Zahid Bokhari as his new attorney.
Mr. Bokhari, apart from being former Prosecutor General of Punjab province and a diehard PPP activist, again does not have any major courtroom successes in his record.
He is known to be a good cross-examiner of witnesses but has no feathers in his cap.
There is one thing, however, that distinguishes Mr. Bokhari’s career. He was the first choice for CIA and the US government to defend the case of top CIA agent in Pakistan Raymond Davis last year.
Bokhari deployed his best professional abilities to defend Davis in Pakistani courts. The CIA murderer was eventually freed but that was not due to Mr. Bokhari’s expertise. If Davis and his employers solely relied on Mr. Bokhari’s capabilities, Davis would still be rotting in jail.
If Mr. Haqqani’s choice of Mr. Bokhari to defend him in court was driven by the Raymond Davis case, then he should keep this in mind that the CIA agent was not saved by his attorney’s legal expertise.
And if Haqqani chose Bokhari on CIA or US government’s recommendation, even then he should remember that in Raymond Davis case, the US government and the CIA remained on the backfoot until the end.
Lastly, if Mr. Haqqani is hoping to walk free the same way Davis did, well, that’s a totally different ball game.
The Daily Mail believes that if Mr. Haqqani would lose his case in court, it would not be because the prosecution was strong but because of his choices of his attorneys.
The Daily Mail would like to suggest that instead of being swayed by media glorification of certain lawyers and rather than being impressed by CIA agent’s attorney, Haqqani should hire some real attorneys. But if Haqqani is betting his chances on being freed like Raymond Davis was, then he’s on track.
This op-ed was published by the Daily Mail of Pakistan. This is an edited version. Mr. Babur is Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper. Reach him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
