In a strongly worded speech in the National Assembly (NA), former interior minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan on Wednesday criticised Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for making a "courtesy call" on US Vice resident Mike Pence.

Continuing his recent criticism of the federal government's relationship with the US, Nisar said: "There is no need for us to be paying courtesy calls to the US; in fact, after the latest drone strike, there should be a strong condemnation sent their way."

"A resolution against Pakistan was passed in the latest BRICS conference held in China — Pakistan's greatest friend. This shows the amount of convincing [by Pakistan's detractors] that went into getting that resolution passed," he continued.

"I call it a resolution against Pakistan because the organisations that have been named in it have existed in Pakistan," Nisar said, adding that India had tried to pass a similar resolution in the previous BRICS conference, "but after failing to do so last year, India spent its time lobbying and managed to get the resolution passed in the latest conference."

"My question is, when India was lobbying for the resolution, why was Pakistan not making contact with friendly members of BRICS — like Brazil, Russia and China — to make sure that the resolution was blocked again?"

Nisar added that diplomacy is not an "on and off game between two meetings," rather it is a full-time job to keep a country in touch with its allies at all times.

The former interior minister said that he would not have raised the issue in parliament had he had a chance to speak directly to the prime minister regarding the matter, but since PM Abbasi has been unavailable, he was forced to do so.