Ministers fume after Nawaz meets Afghan NSA in London

LONDON/ISLAMABAD: Government ministers were furious on Saturday after tweets emerged of a meeting between former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Afghan officials, among whom were National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib — whose remarks against Pakistan prompted a pushback from the Foreign Office.

Afghan NSA Mohib and State Minister for Peace Sayed Sadat Naderi called on Sharif, who has been in London since November 2019. The National Security Council of Afghanistan (NSCA) tweeted about the meeting on Saturday, saying the Afghan state minister for peace and NSA discussed “matters of mutual interest” with Sharif.

Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry reacted strongly to the meeting. Chaudhry said sending Sharif out of Pakistan was “dangerous” because such people become “accomplices in international conspiracies”.

He said Sharif’s meeting with Mohib, “the biggest ally of RAW in Afghanistan”, is an example of such an operation. Chaudhry said: “Modi, Mohib or [Afghanistan vice president] Amrullah Saleh, every enemy of Pakistan, is a close friend of Nawaz Sharif.” Human rights minister Shireen Mazari, who has been mentioned by the Prime Minister on several occasions as shedding tears for an ailing Nawaz Sharif before his departure to London, also reacted strongly.

“Matters of mutual interest”? Seriously? After Mohib referred to Pak — not PTI government but our country — as a “brothel”, common RAW interest can only be to attack Pakistan. Such shameless self-interest of Sharif to preserve looted wealth and country be damned. And Maryam’s retweet support,” she said.

Planning minister Asad Umar said Sharif met Hamdullah Mohib and “expressed goodwill”. “This Mohib is the same person who recently likened Pakistan to a Heera Mandi,” Umar said. He also said it seemed that Sharif wanted “revenge” on his own country. “May God save Pakistan from evil.”

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Political Communication Dr Shahbaz Gill, too, slammed the former prime minister for meeting the Afghan NSA in London. In a statement, Gill said the meeting and “keen interest” with a person who has vilified and abused Pakistan showed the former prime minister’s agenda. He claimed that the Afghan official brought a message from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He added that the upcoming elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) will be shown as controversial so that the elections in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir could be shown under the same circumstances.

Meanwhile, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz defended her father’s meeting with the Afghan officials, and said: “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 also wrote: “Pakistan’s peaceful existence with its neighbours is the very foundation of Nawaz Sharif’s ideology for which he has worked tirelessly.”