ISLAMABAD: Recent claims that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held a secret meeting with his Indian counterpart on the sidelines of a Saarc summit in 2014, provided PTI chief Imran Khan with just the ammunition he needed.

Mr Khan, who rarely misses an opportunity to hit out at the government or the prime minister, criticised what he called Mr Sharif’s “deep-rooted fearfulness of the establishment”.

A detailed statement issued by the party’s central secretariat and a series of messages from Mr Khan’s official Twitter account described the revelation as shocking.

Also read: Sharif, Modi had deniable secret meeting in Kathmandu: book

The PTI chief said he believed that peace between Pakistan and India was critical for prosperity in the Subcontinent, “However, peace requires conflict resolution and de-escalation of military tensions along the border, the LoC and the Working Boundary.”

FO denies Barkha Dutt’s claims about Kathmandu meeting

“Unfortunately, the present leadership of Pakistan and India lack[s] the courage and the conviction, which has led them to hold secret meetings that can be denied,” Mr Khan said.

Mr Sharif’s inability to move forward confidently was undermining the credibility of the Pakistan military at a critical juncture, when the military was combating terrorism across the country, he said.

The PTI leader also expressed dismay at the implication that the secret Kathmandu meeting was facilitated by an Indian steel magnate. “Given the Sharifs’ steel business interests,” Mr Khan said, “PM Sharif clearly has a conflict of interest between these and the national interest[s] of the country.”

He recalled how PM Sharif was the first Pakistan premier who, on a visit to New Delhi for Mr Modi’s inauguration, failed to find time to meet an All-Parties Hurriyat Conference delegation, allegedly owing to prior commitments with Indian business magnates.

Now it seems the secret “non-meeting” in Kathmandu was also facilitated by steel magnate Sajjan Jindal – with whom the Sharif family also has business ties. “Serious concerns over conflict of interest were raised at the time of the PM’s India visit and his meetings with Indian industrialists, especially the steel magnates, where it was feared Pakistan may unilaterally concede transit rights to India’s steel magnate across Pakistan through Afghanistan,” PTI chairman said.

The clandestine manner of Mr Sharif’s interaction with the Indian PM and his choice of a steel magnate as the interlocutor bolsters these concerns, Mr Khan maintained.

“Leaders are expected to convince their nations of their initiatives, not hide and have ‘deniable’ secret meetings through their business interests,” he added.

But a Foreign Office spokesperson termed Indian journalist Barkha Dutt’s assertions about a meeting between the two premiers “baseless”. In a statement, the spokesperson said the two prime ministers only had a brief exchange of views during the Kathmandu retreat, in the presence of other Saarc leaders.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2015