Abdullah Al Madani: Can Qazi climb the ladder of success in Iraq?

On July 12, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, a veteran Pakistani diplomat, was chosen by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan as the new UN head of mission in Iraq. The post has been vacant since the August 2003 terrorist attack on UN headquarters in Baghdad that killed 22 people, including the head of the mission, the Brazilian Sergio Vieira de Mello.

Qazi's assignment is difficult, complex, and potentially dangerous, given the insecurity in Iraq and the country's ethnic, sectarian, and ideological conflicts. He will initially be responsible for helping Iraqis elect a 100-member consultative council, drafting a new constitution, and preparing for the general elections scheduled for January 2005.

Additionally, he will be overseeing the humanitarian and reconstruction operations.

Qazi has the qualification, experience, qualities and connections needed to undertake such a daunting task.

This, however, does not suggest that he would be able to foster consensus among Iraq's diverse political actors and neighbours. Iran, and its supporters in Iraq, for example, have already shown their discontent with his appointment, as is apparent from numerous comments in the Iran Times website.

They fear Qazi will not be impartial, given his Sunni Muslim background and the fact that he comes from Pakistan, which is regularly racked by Sunni-Shiite violence.

Similarly, armed Iraqi militants accused of killing his predecessor are certainly unhappy because of Qazi's involvement with the current Pakistani regime, which they view as an agent of America.

The fact that Qazi has been, until recently, Pakistan's ambassador to Washington and had warm relations with members of the Bush administration, generated an opinion that he was Washington's rather than Annan's choice. Extremist forces have even argued that Qazi's appointment was to encourage Islamabad to send troops to Iraq.

According to UN sources, Annan's list of candidates for the organisation's top job in Iraq included three names, all Muslim and Asian, an indication that Annan might believe that Asian Muslim envoys were more capable of dealing with Iraq's complications. In addition to Qazi, the list included former Thai foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan and former Indian foreign secretary Salman Haider.

It has been said that Annan initially favoured the Indian candidate, for many reasons, one of which was Iraqis' general view of India. Since the overthrow of the Iraqi monarchy in 1958, India has maintained intimate and diverse relations with successive Iraqi regimes. Moreover, India represents a successful model of democracy, secularism, and federalism, all of which is required in post-Saddam Iraq.

Indian candidate's name put aside

However, the Indian candidate's name was put aside in the end because of his independent streak and criticism of US policy in Iraq. And with the Thai candidate's inexperience in the Middle Eastern affairs, Qazi emerged as the most suitable man for the job.

However, there were other factors that went in his favour. He is a skillful negotiator, good communicator, and charismatic public speaker, with wide diplomatic experience and extensive knowledge of the region's issues. In addition, he reads and understands Arabic, although is rusty when speaking it.

A father of two daughters, Qazi was born in 1942 in Pishin, a small town located in a district carrying the same name in Pakistan's province of Baluchistan. He descends from a Baluchi family whose members are known for playing important roles in Pakistan's political history.

His grandfather, Qazi Jalaluddin, the hereditary judge of Kandahar, was sent into exile by the British for leading the Afghan cavalry against the British guns. His father, Qazi Mousa, was a prominent tribal figure.

And his uncle, Qazi Isa, was chosen in 1938 by Pakistan's founding father Mohammad Ali Jinnah to organise the Baluchistan Muslim League. Later, from 1951 to 1953, Isa served as Pakistan's first ambassador to Brazil. Qazi's mother, Jennifer Mousa, who is now 90 years old, is of Irish origin but has spent the last six decades in Pishin.

Following her husband's death in a bus accident in 1955, she entered politics by joining Wali Khan's National Awami Party under which she successfully contested the 1970 general elections and won a parliamentary seat.

When former Pakistani premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto proposed a new constitution for the country in 1973, following the secession of the country's east wing (now Bangladesh), Jennifer was the only parliamentary member who firmly opposed it. She argued that it did not contain enough safeguards for provincial autonomy - a key demand of the people of Baluchistan.

Because Bhutto wanted the proposed constitution be adopted unanimously, he unsuccessfully tried to make Jennifer change her mind, using a mixture of coercion, inducement, and persuasion.

This included an offer to include her in the cabinet, and a threat to dismiss her son Ashraf from the diplomatic service. Exasperated with Jennifer's intransigence, Bhutto was quoted once as saying "She just wants to be Queen of Baluchistan".

Qazi studied at Punjab University from where he obtained a master's degree in economics in 1963. After joining the Pakistani Foreign Service in 1965, he served as a junior officer in Copenhagen, Tokyo, Cairo, Tripoli, and London.

In 1986, he was promoted to the rank of ambassador and posted in Damascus. Then, he became ambassador to East Germany (1990-1991), Russia (1991-1994), China (1994-1997), India (1997-2002), and the US (2002-2004).This demonstrates that Qazi has served under different Pakistani military and civilian regimes, and has been on good terms with all.

His representation of the current regime, first in New Delhi, during a very tense and critical period in Indian-Pakistani relations, and second in Washington at a sensitive time in Pakistani-US relations, is a sign of his success in winning President Pervez Musharraf's full confidence.

As Pakistan's top diplomat in Moscow, New Delhi, and Washington, Qazi had to deal with many serious questions or engage in long negotiations, all of which enriched his experience.

In Moscow, for example, he had to deal with the sudden break-up of the Soviet Union into 15 states and the consequent expansion of his responsibilities. Commenting on this, he sarcastically said, "For a whole year, I was ambassador to 15 countries, but without a 15-fold increase in pay".

Abdullah Al Madani is a Bahrain-based Gulf researcher and writer on Asian affairs. He can be contacted at aelmadani@gulfnews.com