KARACHI, Pakistan - Sherry Rehman, a high-profile politician under threat for her call to reform Pakistan's blasphemy law, was named Pakistan's new ambassador to Washington on Wednesday, one day after her predecessor was forced to resign at the apparent behest of the country's powerful military.
Rehman, a human-rights campaigner and former journalist who is a member of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, will replace Husain Haqqani, who stepped down over a disputed memo that he allegedly wrote seeking Obama administration help against Pakistan's military.
Rehman, a graduate of Smith College and a strong personality with liberal views, is not the sort of person typically favored by the armed forces, suggesting that Pakistan's civilian government fought to keep some say in handling the country's most important foreign relationship. But her stance on national security issues is much less likely to trouble Pakistan's military establishment than those of Haqqani, a former Boston University professor who wrote a book detailing links between Pakistan's army and jihadist groups.
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Rehman, 50, lives under protection after receiving death threats over unsuccessful legislation she introduced in parliament to reform the country's blasphemy laws, which have been used to prosecute Christians and other religious minorities for allegedly denigrating Islam. Earlier this year, two other politicians from the Pakistan Peoples Party were gunned down by extremists over the same issue. She has also helped steer through legislation against domestic violence and so-called honor killings.
Rehman served for a year as information minister before quitting in 2009 over differences with President Asif Zardari about restrictions on the media.
Pakistan's military jealously guards its near monopoly over foreign and national security policies, making it deeply suspicious of the direct access Haqqani had enjoyed to the top levels of the U.S. government.
