AGL 40.15 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (0.38%)
AIRLINK 130.70 Increased By ▲ 1.17 (0.9%)
BOP 6.85 Increased By ▲ 0.17 (2.54%)
CNERGY 4.63 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
DCL 9.00 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.67%)
DFML 43.51 Increased By ▲ 1.82 (4.37%)
DGKC 84.19 Increased By ▲ 0.42 (0.5%)
FCCL 33.00 Increased By ▲ 0.23 (0.7%)
FFBL 78.65 Increased By ▲ 3.18 (4.21%)
FFL 11.80 Increased By ▲ 0.33 (2.88%)
HUBC 110.80 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (0.23%)
HUMNL 14.63 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.48%)
KEL 5.68 Increased By ▲ 0.29 (5.38%)
KOSM 8.32 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.95%)
MLCF 39.81 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (0.05%)
NBP 61.00 Increased By ▲ 0.71 (1.18%)
OGDC 199.90 Increased By ▲ 0.24 (0.12%)
PAEL 26.80 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (0.56%)
PIBTL 7.82 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (2.09%)
PPL 160.49 Increased By ▲ 2.57 (1.63%)
PRL 26.85 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (0.45%)
PTC 18.80 Increased By ▲ 0.34 (1.84%)
SEARL 83.73 Increased By ▲ 1.29 (1.56%)
TELE 8.22 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-1.08%)
TOMCL 34.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.17%)
TPLP 9.12 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.66%)
TREET 17.05 Decreased By ▼ -0.42 (-2.4%)
TRG 59.83 Decreased By ▼ -1.49 (-2.43%)
UNITY 27.81 Increased By ▲ 0.38 (1.39%)
WTL 1.43 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (3.62%)
BR100 10,556 Increased By 149.1 (1.43%)
BR30 32,022 Increased By 309 (0.97%)
KSE100 98,490 Increased By 1161.1 (1.19%)
KSE30 30,645 Increased By 452.8 (1.5%)

EDITORIAL: Abdicating diplomatic norms last week, 23 Islamabad-based envoys mainly from the European Union, issued a press release, asking Pakistan to be present in the UN General Assembly special session and vote against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A couple of days earlier when Prime Minister Imran was about to undertake his Moscow visit, a senior EU official had apprised Pakistan of the negative fallout his visit may have on their bilateral trade and business relations.

The question what had actually motivated the EU envoys to bypass Pakistan’s Foreign Office and go to the press has no clear answer even when the prime minister in his address at public meeting at Mailsi, Punjab, severely criticized the EU envoys’ media campaign. “What do you think of us? Are we slaves … that whatever you say, we will do it,” he conveyed to the envoys, and regretted Pakistan’s unrewarded alliance with the Western camp throughout the Cold War. Then he asked them: “Have you ever acknowledged Pakistan’s support in war against terror, which claimed 80,000 lives?”.

According to him, opposition leaders Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari cannot adopt an independent foreign policy as they have bank accounts in foreign countries, but “I have never bowed before anyone nor will let the nation bow before any other country”. That the situation is profoundly profound is a fact. It, therefore, gives birth to a profound question: Do Washington-led powers want his removal from the helm?

Be that as it may, the issue that calls for instant comment is Prime Minister Imran Khan’s decision to speak on an issue at a public meeting at Mailsi, Punjab. It is needless to say that this matter is essentially a foreign policy matter and should be taken up within the realms of diplomacy. No doubt the EU envoys were wrong. They were rightly reminded by the Foreign Office that what they did was “not a usual diplomatic practice”.

But here is the prime minister of Pakistan making public what he thinks of the European Union and Nato powers. He may also visit some European capitals, and quite “soon”, according to Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry. Maybe, the prime minister would tell his host leaders in Europe on their faces what he told the people at home. One would have no hesitation in sharing Imran Khan’s determination not to bow before anyone, but where one differs with him is that a political public meeting was not the right place where EU envoys should have been censured.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022

Comments

Comments are closed.

Naveed Iqbal Mar 09, 2022 04:27pm
This is not just abdication of diplomatic norms, these envoys indirectly ordering our state to do what they want, that's too in the form of going directly to the press. This is humiliation, any nation definitely not tolerate this action by a foreigner, PM rightly defended the nation and called out these so called human rights champion nations' dual standard about Pakistan and India.
thumb_up Recommended (0)