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CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA
WASHINGTON, NOV 2: Wanted for the Indian Embassy in Washington: A smart, resourceful, beguiling, sharp-tongued, quick-witted woman to be New Delhi's ambassador.
That could well be the classified the Indian government may have in mind following the unexpected announcement by Pakistan's military regime that it is posting Maleeha Lodhi as its new envoy to Washington.
Hardly new though. Maleeha Lodhi returns to familiar digs, having been the Pakistani envoy here from 1993 to 1996 during Benazir Bhutto's second stint as Prime Minister. As ambassador, she drummed up considerable support for Pakistan on the Hill and in the administration, and according to some observers, ran rings around Indian diplomats. She was instrumental in engineering the Brown Amendment, which restored some of the sequestered arms to Pakistan, including the three P3 Orion planes (one of which crashed last week). That was the first step towards the dilution of the Pressler Amendment that had stopped arms supply to Pakistan because it hadcrossed a nuclear threshold.
But some other Pakistani community leaders say she failed to deliver, was too closely identified with the Bhutto regime, and was a disgrace to the country. Already, some prominent Pakistani-Americans are frothing in anger and have launched a campaign against her appointment.
Calling her an opportunist and a PPP (Pakistan People's Party, Benazir Bhutto's outfit) ambassador, an organisation calling itself Pakistani American Forum (PAF) urged the Musharraf regime to revoke the decision and launched a low sexist attack against Lodhi, who apparently made enemies aplenty during her first term here.
"The PAF has completely rejected the Ambassadorship of Ms Maleeha Lodhi, a controversial feminist, chain smoker, and highly emotional psychopathic personality," the organisation said in a personal attack on the 40-something envoy-designate, who happens to be a divorcee.
Some PAF leaders have accused Lodhi of financial misconduct and alleged that her brother Amir Lodhi was involved inarms transactions during the Bhutto regime. "Maleeha Lodhi is a glorified hustler, who is not even qualified to become a junior officer at the Pakistan Foreign Ministry or the Pakistan Embassy, became a dusty decoration piece at the Embassy in Washington, DC," the PAF said in a statement.
Lodhi's impending appointment has sharpened interest on the Hill and in lobbying circles, where she has many friends. During her time, Pakistan hired half a dozen lobbyists and spent lavishly to tackle India's growing influence on the Hill.
Indian officials and activists too have absorbed the news of Lodhi's return, amid an imminent change over in the Indian Embassy too. Ambassador Naresh Chandra is now into his fourth year in Washington, having served through Prime Ministers Narasimha Rao, I K Gujral, H D Deve Gowda and Atal Behari Vajpayee. Although he could stay here for ever given the kind of backing all parties have given him, he is known to be keen on returning to India after the Clinton visit early next year.
IfLodhi's appointment comes through and Chandra returns, New Delhi might have to think in terms of a deft and alert diplomat with quicksilver responses to match wits with her. Some experts feel though that Chandra is the perfect counter for Lodhi. A stolid, cerebral diplomat with a range and depth of experience that makes Lodhi look like an upstart, the Indian ambassador has impressed Washington with his quanimity and fortitude in times of crisis, especially during the nuclear flap.
Pakistan observers say Maleeha Lodhi's return once again illustrates the highly personalised nature of the foreign office in Islamabad. As a Benazir Bhutto appointee, Lodhi was anathema to the Sharif regime. In fact, the story of her progress through Pakistan's journalistic and diplomatic mill is the stuff of pulp fiction. Lodhi was studying and later teaching at the London School of Economics (LSE) when she went back to Pakistan in the first flush of Benazir's return from exile. She joined the Muslim newspaper, where she was acolleague of Mushahid Hussain, who later went to the opposite side to become a Sharif acolyte, and the time of his ouster, Pakistan's information minister (The two are now bitter enemies).
She later became editor of the Islamabad edition of The News, the English daily from the Jung group. Lodhi was sent here in 1993 by Benazir Bhutto with the express mandate of restoring US-Pakistani ties at a time when Islamabad was in danger of being named a terrorist state.
According to some Pakistanis, she did a great job, although she had all the resources at her command. When Benazir was sacked by the President, she was asked to stay on in Washington, but she returned on the eve of the elections. According to one version, she fell out with Benazir towards the end of her term. The new Sharif government appointed Riaz Khokhar, then Islamabad's envoy in New Delhi, to come to Washington. Lodhi returned to Islamabad to become editor of The News, the English daily of the Jung group.
But the Sharif regime got after herand the Jung group (apparently because of her) and the two sides slugged it out for months. Only about six months ago, the newspaper finally sidelined her and appeared to have made peace with the regime (her name disappeared from the printline). But then it was overthrown. The new military dispensation is said to be well-disposed towards her not only because she is well-connected in the armed forces, but also because they thought she had done a good job in Washington during her first stint. But obviously they have not reckoned with the enemies she has made in Washington.
One of Lodhi's first tasks will be to help the hapless Tariq Fatmi, whom the Sharif government had appointed as ambassador only weeks before the coup, pack his bags. Fatmi, a junior diplomat whose only previous ambassadorship was in Zimbabwe, was working in Sharif's office when he was sent here. The new military regime has cancelled the appointment. Fatmi had only recorded his presence in the state department and had not even presented hiscredentials to the White House before Musharraf reeled him back.
Lodhi now faces the difficult task of trying to package the military regime for Washington. But given the laconic acceptance of the regime by American stalwarts who have patronised up to many a dictator, that may not be too tall an order for the petite ambassador. A tougher job will be for her to get the President to visit her country under a military dispensation.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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