ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Monday criticised Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for attending the Arab-Islamic-American Summit in Riyadh as a silent spectator and for not speaking in support of the people of Iran, Palestine and Kashmir.

At a news conference held to discuss the summit proceedings, the PTI chairman said every Pakistani “felt ashamed” over the treatment meted out to the country’s prime minister at the summit, attended by US President Donald Trump and the heads of some 55 Muslim countries.

“What was the need to go there if you were to do nothing?” he questioned, saying that millions of rupees of taxpayers’ money had been wasted on the visit.

Mr Khan was of the view that when the US president had called for isolating Iran, Mr Sharif should have made it clear that Pakistan did not want to see its neighbouring Islamic country isolated. Instead, the prime minister should have told the participants in the summit that Pakistan’s parliament had already passed a unanimous resolution asserting that Pakistan would not become party to any conflict and would play the role of a mediator, he said.

Says PM was sidelined at the Arab-Islamic-American Summit

It was unfortunate that the US president had talked about Iran’s isolation at a time when the people of Iran had re-elected a moderate Hassan Rouhani as president, he said, adding that isolating Iran would not be in the Muslim world’s interest.

The PTI chief regretted that the prime minister was not given an opportunity to speak at the summit even though Pakistan was the only nuclear state among the participating Muslim countries. The PM could have issued a statement after the summit but, “he has missed a big opportunity”, he said.

Accompanied by PTI’s general secretary Jahangir Tareen and former information secretary Naeemul Haq, Mr Khan regretted that the US president had not even mentioned Pakistan in his speech, despite the fact that Pakistan had suffered the most in the war against terrorism. He said Mr Trump had mentioned India, but forgot that Pakistan had lost some 70,000 lives and suffered $100bn loss in America’s push against terrorism.

The PTI chairman claimed that the prime minister must have practised giving a speech at the summit, but did not get an opportunity to deliver it. He also criticised the US president for declaring Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist outfits and did not speak about the atrocities committed by Indian security officials in Kashmir.

The PTI chief said it was evident that Pakistan did not have a foreign policy at all. “If Nawaz Sharif is the foreign minister, he should resign immediately.”

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2017