ISLAMABAD: Former federal minister for Information and Broadcasting and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Vice President Senator Sherry Rehman has expressed shock and dismay over the government’s release of a readout about the phone call between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and US president-elect Donald Trump.
“Releasing that unabridged readout without permission represented a total breach of diplomatic norms and has placed Pakistan in a poor light,” the former ambassador to the US said. The phone call between the two leaders took place on Wednesday to discuss future prospects between the US and Pakistan.
The government’s decision to release the readout – in the manner that it did – drew a slew of criticism from former White House officials and the international media. “There is no way that a trained foreign service officer would release this kind of granular detail on their own; they are way too experienced for that. This huge faux pas has obviously been initiated by the PM’s Office,” said Sherry Rehman.
The president-elect and the premier also received heavy backlash over the ignorance and recklessness revealed in the content of the readout. Foreign policy experts fear that it would have strong implications on the US policy towards India and Pakistan. “This has exposed the gaping hole in this government’s foreign policy machine and made it look even more enormous,” she said.
“The refusal to appoint a full-time foreign minister has left a dangerous vacuum on a key ministry where too much is falling between the cracks. This has been one of the PPP’s key demands in order to protect Pakistan’s interests, but we fail to understand why no one is given this full-time responsibility, especially considering the daily challenges Pakistan is facing in this vital ministry,” the senator concluded.
