Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for June 21, 2016
Newsline: Former ambassador harming Pakistan’s interests in US
Pakistan’s former ambassador in the US was “lobbying against his own country” and “creating hurdles for the government”, the country’s top diplomat said on Tuesday, apparently referring to Hussain Haqqani who was sacked by the government at the army’s behest. “A former Pakistani ambassador is working against his own country in the US,” the Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz told the National Assembly without naming the ex-ambassador. He said that Pakistan’s diplomatic mission in the US is facing challenges due to the former ambassador’s campaign. “This person is trying to tackle all our diplomatic efforts in boosting the bilateral ties between Pakistan and the United States,” Aziz was quoted as saying by Dawn. He was “lobbying against his own country” and “creating hurdles for the government,” Aziz said. The adviser added that the “Foreign Office has serious reservation on the activities of the said person in the US.” According to knowledgeable sources, Aziz was referring to Haqqani who was appointed as ambassador during rule of former President Asif Ali Zardari and later sacked at the insistence by army which was not happy with his working. Haqqani, who served as Pakistan’s ambassador to the US from April 2008 to November 2011, was sacked for allegedly authoring a memo seeking Washington’s help to prevent a coup in the country.
Newsline: Sweden asks to meet Assange inside Ecuador embassy
Ecuador has received a formal request from the Swedish authorities to interview Julian Assange, inside its London embassy, in a potential breakthrough to the long-running saga. The WikiLeaks founder, 44, is wanted for questioning over a 2010 rape allegation in Sweden, which he has always denied. He has been living inside Ecuador’s UK mission for four years in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden, saying he fears he would then be transferred to the US to face political charges for orchestrating leaks of diplomatic cables. Ecuador has been asking throughout Assange’s stay that he be interviewed inside the embassy, and said it welcomed the apparent Swedish “change of heart, and signs of a new political will”. Ecuador’s foreign minister, Dr Guillaume Long, said, however, that the country may require fresh legal assurances before it allows Swedish prosecutors access. The Swedish attorney general made a formal request that was being considered, Long said. Long said: “Interviewing Mr Assange inside the embassy has been Ecuador’s request for four years. Over 1,400 days we have been asking the Swedes to come and interrogate him in our embassy. So it is welcome there has been change of heart and some sign of political will. “But since November 2010 and March 2015 Sweden made 44 such requests to other countries to interview suspects in other cases. So it is very common and could be easily done, but we faced total refusal for years.”
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