ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday congratulated Donald Trump, the US president-elect, on his return to the White House after defeating Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
In his congratulatory message posted on X, Sharif mentioned Trump as president-elect extending congratulations on his “historic victory for a second term.”
“I look forward to working closely with the incoming administration to further strengthen and broaden the Pakistan-US partnership @realDonaldTrump,” said Sharif. Meanwhile, incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founding chairman Imran Khan has also felicitated Trump on his election victory.
“The will of the American people held against all odds,” he wrote on X. The ex-prime minister hoped that Trump would push for peace, human rights and democracy globally.
The PTI also took to its official X handle to congratulate the Republican candidate and his VP-elect, stating that the people of the United States have spoken and their “mandate has been respected”.
It added that it is “a stark contrast to Pakistan, where the public mandate was blatantly stolen.”
During his tenure as prime minister of Pakistan, Imran shared amicable ties with Trump administration — a reason why the PTI celebrates the US president-elect’s return to power as a potential advantage.
In an interesting development, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal, who has been a staunch critic of Trump, deleted a series of old critical tweets he had shot against Trump after he won the polls. The tweets go as far back as 2016 when Iqbal had made a comparison of the political rhetoric of Trump and Imran Khan.
The minister said that he was quite surprised how strong were the similarities in the tone and the language used by the two politicians and their followers.
As can be seen, Iqbal has already responded with a very thought-provoking analysis about Imran Khan’s rising popularity as he tweeted: “I am surprised to see amazing similarity in tone and language of Trump and IK followers,” referencing the growing popularity of Khan, then PM, in Pakistan. Then three days later, he followed it with another: “Can you guess Pakistani Donald Trump?
Back in October 2016, Iqbal tweeted: “We have one in Pakistan too. He will be shown way out soon. Insha Allah!” This was in reference to Khan, an opinion that many now realise as ironic since Khan emerged victorious in 2018. Those tweets he deleted are going viral again after President Trump’s re-election as the US president. It sparked debates on various social media platforms that would be shared with public amazement.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024