Pakistan's
Haroon
Returns to UN,
Counters "Back
Slapping," Not
Replaced
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 20
-- Amid
reports that
Pakistan's
lead
Ambassador
at the UN
Abdullah
Hussain Haroon
had resigned,
Inner City
Press back in
July asked
the Pakistani
mission if it
could confirm
or deny.
"Cannot
confirm,"
came the
answer. But
Haroon was not
seen at the
UN.
Diplomats told
Inner City
Press with a
know-it-all
air of
certainty
that
Pakistan's
Ambassador to
China had been
named to
replace
Haroon.
And
then on
Thursday
Haroon
re-appeared.
At the
Security
Council
stakeout
he greeted
Inner City
Press, wearing
a broad hat
and holding a
white
cane. His
spokesman was
next to him
grinning.
Once
inside the
Security
Council,
Haroon
delivered a
speech on
Afghanistan
that was
notably
different than
those of other
Council
members.
He
read from
newspapers and
from UN
reports; he
named a
guardian angel
program in
which
unidentified
"angels" are
authorized to
shoot anyone
threatening
Coalition
forces.
(Another
Ambassador,
requesting and
granted
anonymity,
opined that
Haroon would
read out a
telephone
directory and
make it as
interesting as
on Speakers
Corner
in Hyde Park.
Another called
him the most
learned
diplomat on
the Council.)
Afterward
Inner
City Press
asked Haroon
not only about
Law and Order
Trust Fund
for
Afghanistan,
but also about
the rumors of
him leaving.
He said
that he
prepared his
speech to
counteract
Council
"backslapping,"
and
added,"Well,
I'm back
temporarily."
But to
paraphrase
Mark Twain,
reports of his
replacement
were greatly
exaggerated.
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