DAWN - Features; 10 January, 1998

Shaheen Sehbai

VERY FEW eyebrows have been raised or questions asked about the main Washington lobbyist for Israeli arms industries who was hired by Islamabad last year as the main lobbyist for Pakistan but all hell is ready to break out if attempts by some influential Pakistani-Americans to replace him with an Indian Government lobbyist are even considered by Islamabad.

The Israeli lobbyist, working for Israeli Military Industries Ltd., is none other than Pakistan's beloved and darling Democrat from Texas, Charlie Wilson, who retired from Congress last year and then waited for a year to begin his lobbying job for Israel and Pakistan in October, despite some high-profile strong-arm efforts by some Pakistani-Americans to push him aside and themselves takeover the job, lucrative both politically and financially.

Charlie's Israeli connection was revealed recently but another of his key connections that went unnoticed was his prized client-lobbyist relationship with Lockheed Martin, the aerospace giant and maker of F-16 aircraft against which Pakistan has claims of over $650 million dollars for not delivering the purchased planes or returning the money.

That may possibly explain why Islamabad and its representatives in Washington were eager to hire Charlie as their man on the Hill, as in one move they would be able to secure both their past and their future.

The past could be guarded by having their own paid man entrenched deep in the enemy camp once the F-16 issue goes for the marathon court battles after Pakistan sues Lockheed and the US. Future security could be ensured by keeping the channels to the Israelis open for any future military and weapons trade, once the politics of the Middle East was out of their bilateral relations. And Charlie fitted the mould perfectly.

But Charlie is not having a smooth ride, despite his credentials. In the hurly burly of the grand judiciary-executive super thriller in Islamabad late last year, a small Washington crowd was quietly playing its game to oust Charlie and replace him with, believe it or not, a lobbying firm which works for India. This crowd did not get the attention it needed because of the turmoil of Titanic proportions sweeping Islamabad.

This set of well-placed Pakistanis in the US had taken with them a gentleman called Terry McAuliffe whose firm was given the Indian lobbying contract by Ambassador Ray in Washington in 1994.

TM, as he is called, is the guy who was high up in the Clinton- Gore presidential campaign of 1992, specially on the fund-raising side and many Pakistani supporters of Clinton had made their way to the White House through TM, one of them also getting the symbolic privilege of flying with the President on Air Force One from Washington to Chicago.

TM and his Pakistani-American sponsors were actually being hosted in Islamabad by Gen Zia's son Ejaz-ul-Haq who, it is well known here, was returning the compliment of the "Chicago Group", the name given to a host of rich Pakistani activists from that Illinois city who believe nothing in Pakistan-US relations moves without their consent and if Nawaz Sharif came to the US or Clinton would be visiting Pakistan, it is they who deserve the credit.

Ejaz-ul-Haq was projected as an alternative to Nawaz Sharif by this group in Washington's policy-making corridors when he was here last, meeting important people and discussing big policy matters, presuming that he would be the likely choice of Washington should Sharif go down fighting his judicial battles.

The public posture and attitude of Ejaz-ul-Haq also betrayed some misplaced confidence during the crisis when he placed himself into a position not fully supporting Nawaz Sharif, always poking fingers at his administration and behaving like the "man- in-waiting". His grandiose statement that he was not a candidate for the presidency was just one example of how he was feeling and where he was coming from.

The Chicago group presented TM in Islamabad to top generals, policy-makers and politicians, during the height of the recent crisis. Gen Hameed Gul, the former ISI chief, was one of the many guests at a dinner at Ejaz-ul-Haq's residence in which TM was presented as the "man who could deliver anything from Washington."

"Terry McAuliffe was throwing big names around that party and was trying to impress those present about his White House connections, saying he had to rush back to DC to attend Hillary Clinton's birthday parties," Gen Gul told me.

He was taken around the country by the Chicago crowd, to Sindh and Karachi, in what was basically billed as a "know-Pakistan" visit but actually had the undertones of introducing TM to people who mattered and presenting him as an alternative to Charlie Wilson.

Gen Gul was told by one of the Chicago hosts of TM: "It is a big thing for Pakistan that we have succeeded in bringing the Indian lobbyist around to our side." Confirming this to me, Gen Gul said it appeared that his hosts were trying to get TM a lobbying job.

Questions about his visit are already being asked in Washington, specially in Pakistan circles. A senior Pakistani diplomat laughed off the suggestion recently when he was asked whether an Israeli lobbyist working for Pakistan was now being replaced by an Indian lobbyist.

When TM's firm "McAuliffe, Kelly and Raffaelli" was hired by the Indians in late January of 1994, a storm of protest broke out in the Indian media and screaming headlines like "Weak lobbyist hired in US" (Times of India); "Dubious lobbying firm hired" (News) filled their pages.

The Washington Times then said TM's firm was "primarily a real estate and business law firm" and it quoted critics as saying: "The firm has little experience in foreign affairs aside from its representation of Turkey, an ally of India's enemy, Pakistan."

The then Indian ambassador in Washington, Siddhartha Ray, had to call a news conference in February '94 to deny Indian newspaper description of the firm as "scandalous" but Indian papers had reported that Congressman Bill Anderson, who was working then in TM's firm, was involved in a large cheque-bouncing scandal and another of TM's partners, Mike Deaver, a former chief of staff of Reagan Administration, was a convicted felon for committing perjury before Congress in 1987.

It was also reported then that TM was actually not a registered lobbyist with the justice department though his name appeared in the name of the company which was hired by the Indians.

Concerned Pakistanis are now questioning what was the purpose of TM's visit to Pakistan; or of his meetings with high-level officials; whether he offered them advice on how to create a lobby for Pakistan to counter the growing influence of the Indian lobby in the US; did he offer them any legal advice with respect to how the lobbying should be done; did he in any way suggest mechanisms to circumvent existing United States code with respect to foreign contributions and lobbying.

They were also wondering whether TM was the subject of any formal inquiry by the justice department or the Dan Burton committee of the House investigating specific aspects of fund- raising by the Democrats and the Republicans.

TM is known to have been helpful to some large donors to the Democratic party from the Pakistani-American community by pushing them in high places, arranging their meetings with high-ups and obliging them in ways that would enhance their own image and profile. Whether actually his efforts have helped Pakistan, is a question that still needs an answer.