The official Twitter handle of Afghanistan’s National Security Council had shared a picture of Mohib and minister for peace Sayed Sadat Naderi meeting Sharif in London last Thursday, triggering instant outrage in Pakistan. The meeting with the ex-Pakistan PM, who has been based in London since 2019, was to “discuss matters of mutual interest”, it said.
A screenshot of the meeting with the hashtags #NawazSharif and #AfghanNSA was trending on Twitter shortly after, with comments in favour and against Sharif and the Afghan leaders.
Pakistan’s information minister Fawad Chaudhry said, “This is why sending Nawaz Sharif abroad was dangerous…because such people become a part of international ploys.”
Sharif’s meeting with “RAW’s biggest ally in Afghanistan is an example of this”, he said.
“Modi, Mohib or Amrullah Saleh (the Afghan vice-president) — every enemy of Pakistan is a close friend of Nawaz Sharif,” Chaudhry tweeted.
Human rights minister Shireen Mazari demanded to know what “matters of mutual interest” were discussed at the meeting. “After Mohib referred to Pakistan — not PTI government but (our) country — as a “brothel”, common RAW interest can only be to attack Pak,” she said. “Such shameless self-interest of Sharif to preserve looted wealth, country be damned.”
Science and technology minister Shibli Faraz termed the meeting “nothing new”, saying Sharif had “always kept company with enemies of Pakistan, be it (steel tycoon Sajjan) Jindal or Modi”.
Responding to the criticism, Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz said the foundation of her father’s ideology was the peaceful co-existence of Pakistan with its neighbours and he had always “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 said.
The Afghan national security adviser routinely accuses Pakistan and ISI of supporting and directing the Taliban’s insurgency in Afghanistan, which are always denied by Islamabad.
In a public speech in May in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province, next to the Pakistani border, Mohib controversially referred to Pakistan as Heera Mandi, the red light area of Lahore. PM Imran’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf led the counter onslaught.
Read More: Pak cabinet slams Sharif for meeting Afghan national security adviser