Federal Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari on Tuesday said that US President Donald Trump was “compelled to perform a reality check” after Prime Minister Imran Khan responded to his offensive tweets against Pakistan.
Taking to Twitter, the human rights minister said, “PM IK’s response to Trump’s offensive tweets against Pakistan compelled Trump to do a reality check and write to PM Khan asking for help in bringing peace to Afghanistan!”
PM IK’s response to Trump’s offensive tweets against Pak compelled Trump to do a reality chk & write to PM Khan asking for help in bringing peace to Afghanistan! So much for those in Pak who were quivering after IK’s tweets went out!
— Shireen Mazari (@ShireenMazari1) December 4, 2018
“So much for those in Pakistan who were quivering after IK’s tweets went out!” she added.
Her tweet came a day after PM Imran revealed that the US president had written a letter to him.
On Monday, PM Imran during a meeting with TV anchors and reporters in Islamabad informed that he had received a letter from the US president.
PM Imran further revealed that Trump has asked for Pakistan’s help in “bringing the Taliban leadership to the negotiating table”. He added that he had always believed only dialogue could bring stability in Afghanistan.
“President Trump has also acknowledged that the war had cost both USA and Pakistan,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “He has emphasised that Pakistan and USA should explore opportunities to work together and renew partnership.”
The ministry “welcomed” the US decision for negotiations, noting that “Pakistan has always advocated a political settlement to end the war in Afghanistan”.
“Pakistan reiterates its commitment to play a facilitation role in good faith,” the FO statement read. “Peace and stability in Afghanistan remain a shared responsibility.”
he letter from the US president comes after a war of words between the two heads of states in November.
On Nov 19, PM Imran had rejected US President Trump’s remarks against Pakistan, suggesting that Washington should assess its success in Afghanistan instead of making Pakistan a scapegoat for its failures.
While speaking to Fox News, President Trump sought to justify his administration’s decision at the start of 2018 to pull military aid to Pakistan by linking it to al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden being found in Pakistan in 2011.
“They [Pakistan] don’t do a damn thing for us,” the US president had said.
Speaking of the compound in Abbottabad where bin Laden was found in 2011, Trump had said the bin Laden’s had been “living in Pakistan right next to the military academy, everybody in Pakistan knew he was there”.
However, contrary to Trump’s insinuations, former US president Barack Obama had said last year: “We had no evidence that Pakistan was aware of his presence — that is something that we looked at.”
Trump also added that the US used to give Pakistan $1.3 billion a year, but doesn’t anymore. “I ended it because they don’t do anything for us.”
The US president then maintained his allegations against Pakistan by tweeting that Pakistan was one of many countries that took money from the US without giving anything in return.
“We no longer pay Pakistan the $Billions because they would take our money and do nothing for us, Bin Laden being a prime example, Afghanistan being another,” the US president had said in a series of tweets.
Responding to Trump’s statements, Prime Minister Khan had said that Islamabad had decided to “participate in the US War on Terror” although no Pakistani was involved in the 9/11 attacks.
“Pakistan suffered 75,000 casualties in this war and over $123 billion was lost,” he added, of which “US ‘aid’ was a minuscule $20bn”, the premier had said.
In addition to economic losses, PM Khan highlighted the impact of the US war on Pakistan’s tribal areas.