ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz Vice President Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said his predecessor and party’s supreme leader Nawaz Sharif met Kabul’s National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib on the request of Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani.
Sharif, who travelled to London in November 2019 on an eight-week conditional bail period on the pretext of medical treatment and later refused to return, landed himself in hot waters after he met with a delegation from Afghanistan, including Mohib, to “discuss matters of mutual interest”.
The meeting, reportedly aided by an Arab country, was held to “talk to everyone, listen to their point of view and convey one’s own message across”, Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz later tweeted.
It is the very essence of diplomacy to talk to everyone, listen to their point of view and convey one’s own message across: something this government doesn’t comprehend and hence is a complete failure on the international front. https://t.co/ZWwXXDf8iz
— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) July 24, 2021
“The meeting was in favour of Pakistan,” Abbasi told host Adil Shahzeb on his programme Live with Adil Shahzeb.
He said the meeting was scheduled some five months back after Ghani had expressed a desire for a meeting between an Afghanistan delegation and Sharif in London, but did not elaborate that in what capacity since Sharif does not hold any office and was declared an absconder by the courts for violating the bail requirements.
Islamabad severed ties with Mohib, who routinely accuses Pakistan of supporting and directing the Taliban’s insurgency in his country, in May after his recent “abusive outburst” against the country.
In a public speech earlier that month in the eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, next to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa border, Mohib not only repeated his allegations but referred to Pakistan as a brothel house.
In his interview, Abbasi said Mohib’s statement was “rightfully condemned” by Pakistan and the official got “punished” for his remarks but insisted that “relations are always between two countries and not individuals”.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in June hit out at Mohib for his comments and called on him to “reflect and correct” his behaviour.
“The national security adviser of Afghanistan carefully listen to me […] as the foreign minister of Pakistan, I say that no Pakistani will shake your hand or talk with you if you do not desist from the kind of language you are using or the accusations you’re making against Pakistan,” he said.
Today, Abbasi said Sharif’s aim was to “improve relations” with Afghanistan through the meeting, adding the two sides discussed bilateral relations at length.
“Even if someone is your enemy and they come at your doorstep, you listen to them. But Afghanistan is a friend of Pakistan,” Abbasi said.
‘INTERNATIONAL PLOT’:
Commenting on the meeting, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said: “This is why sending Nawaz Sharif abroad was dangerous because such people become a part of international plots.”
Sharif’s meeting with “RAW’s (Indian spy agency) biggest ally in Afghanistan is an example of this. Modi, Mohib or Amrullah Saleh (Afghanistan vice president) — every enemy of Pakistan is a close friend of Nawaz Sharif”, he said.
Responding to the criticism, Nawaz said the foundation of Sharif’s ideology was the peaceful coexistence of Pakistan with its neighbours and he had “worked tirelessly” for it.
“It is the very essence of diplomacy to talk to everyone, listen to their point of view and convey one’s own message across: something this government doesn’t comprehend and hence is a complete failure on the international front,” she declared.
Responding to the tweet, Chaudhry questioned why all “haters of Pakistan, from Ajit Doval to Mohib, ended up in your [Sharif’s] palatial London palace?”
Quite a Duffer comparison can you show me a picture of Hamadullah with Pak leadership post his statement demonising Pak as Brothel House? Why all Pak haters from Ajit Doval to Muhib end up in your palatial London palace? https://t.co/we0wP0gtZl
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) July 24, 2021
