Envoy backs plan for slave memorial

In a T&T Guardian exclusive, Pakistan Ambassador to the United Nations, Abdullah Hussain Haroon, touted his nation’s support and involvement in the Caricom resolution calling for a slave memorial. He viewed it as “a responsibility and commitment” and another step toward broader trade and cultural relations. He noted that the United Nations’ multi-lateral platform is the best medium to facilitate friendship and unity with the people of Trinidad and Tobago. His comments were made at his country’s landmark Madison Avenue building which houses its New York consulate and UN mission.

“You may think that our cultural ties started with Sir Gary Sobers and cricket but Pakistan has a closer connection to Africa and its diaspora than you realise,” he said. Citing the lineage of 16th century African kings who were “gentlemen of fortune” and “never slaves,” he said that the province of Sindh was home to more than a million descendants of Africans, with 200,000 alone in his hometown of Karachi. “Their customs and traditions are all intact,” he added. Despite political and intra-religious clashes which have at times derailed stability, the ambassador compared his country’s plural and multi-religious composition with that of T&T.

“We are a Muslim state but we have a large number of Buddhists, Sikhs, Hindus and even Jews,” he said. On the question of economic co-operation, Ambassador Haroon viewed agricultural trade as “cost prohibitive” but eyed other areas of engagement, such as health and biotechnology. “You look at what Cuba has done with respect to medicine and we see the need to initiate dialogue in health, education and women services,” he said. Ambassador Haroon traced Pakistan’s geographic and historical significance from its early years as “the birthplace of the Vedas and Hindu mythologies” to its present role as the frontier on the war on terror.

He dismissed speculation that Pakistan was complicit in protecting Osama bin Laden and railed against any US suggestion supportive of such an idea. “Bin Laden was a man of great means and influence and to think that he could not use that to his advantage is unthinkable. “I mean, if the US with all its technology and sophisticated spy network; and with all the electronics and eaves dropping capabilities could not find him for ten years, what makes you think we could? “If we are culpable, then the US is even more so. After all, they were the ones who created the monster.” He argued that at the moment “any gesture on the part of the Pakistan Government to the US is never enough.”

Despite frayed diplomatic relations, Ambassador Haroon reaffirmed his country’s commitment to fighting global terror. “We have lost thousands of civilian and military personnel since the start on the war on terror and have handed over more noted terrorists to the US than the number killed by their drone attacks,” he said, describing that action as a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and responsible for countless innocent lives. Lastly the ambassador commented on flooding in the southern part of the country which has displaced more than five million people and ravaged a sizable percentage of its cotton production.  “It’s another trial,” he said, “but we are people of resilience and fortitude, capable of withstanding and overcoming whatever is thrown at us,” he said.