The Pakistani government has failed to come up with a satisfactory response on the US drone strike that has reportedly killed Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour in Balochistan on Saturday, Pakistan Today Editor Arif Nizami said on Tuesday.
Commenting on the current situation in his talkshow DNA on Channel 24, Nizami said that Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar had made an unsuccessful attempt to clear the air regarding the drone strike on the Afghan militant chief in Balochistan.
“Nisar has himself admitted that Wali Muhammad, who the Americans claim was in fact Mullah Mansour, had obtained genuine Pakistani documents from NADRA officials in Balochistan. How is it possible that the Taliban chief, who was reportedly living in Pakistan for so many years, was not being monitored by Pakistani agencies? There are several such questions that the government needs to answer in this regard,” he said.
“Protesting against the violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty but secretly sharing intelligence with the US has always been the modus operandi of our governments in the past,” he said, adding that since the day of the attack, the military’s media wing has maintained silence while the civilian government is being made to suffer the pressure.
“Our diplomacy and foreign policy is in shambles. India and Afghanistan have been seeking a trade corridor through Pakistan. India found an opening thanks to Iran, and geo-strategically India got an alternate route owing to our incompetent diplomacy,” he said.
“It is too early to say anything, but geo-strategically and politically a new wave of change can be felt,” he said.
Speaking on the political situation, Nizami said that Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif could become the successor to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif if the latter had no other option left but to step down from his office.
“When it comes to in-house changes, the PM has limited options because Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s brand has been tarnished due to the Panama Leaks issue while Hamza Shahbaz Sharif doesn’t have the capacity to run things. In this scenario, Shehbaz Sharif is the best possible choice to replace the PM as he has good relations with the GHQ and has delivered when it comes to various development projects,” he said.
However, Nizami said that Nawaz Sharif is a fighter and he would not throw in the towel very easily. “It would be premature to say anything with certainty regarding his future,” he concluded.