ISLAMABAD   -  The recent meeting of PML-N supremo and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif with the Afghan National Security Advisor Hamdullah Mohib on Saturday generated a heated debate on social media with several PTI ministers strongly criticizing Nawaz while the opposition party’s leadership justifying it. 

Many PTI ministers took to the Twitter to say that Nawaz Sharif’s meeting with the Afghan NSA has proved his alleged connections with “Pakistan’s enemies.” They said that it was “appalling” that former three-time prime minister of Pakistan has met an official who had been giving anti-Pakistan statements in the past. 

This all started when, a day before, the Twitter handle of National Security Council of Afghanistan shared a picture of Mohib and Afghan State Minister for Peace Sayed Sadat Naderi while meeting Sharif in London. It also shared a press statement saying that they met him to discuss “matters of mutual interest” and “they agreed that both nations’ interests are served by a policy of mutual respect and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs.” 

Chairman Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir Shehryar Afridi in his Tweet said, “Nawaz Sharif’s meeting with Afghan NSA proves his connections with Pakistan’s enemies.” “Again proved that Nawaz Sharif is a tool to be used against Pakistani interests. His statements on crucial issues already (are) used by India at global forums,” he also said.  

Human Rights Minister Dr Shireen Mazari in her Tweet highlighted that PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz has retweeted the Tweet of Afghan National Security Council about this meeting and questioned what the “matters of mutual interest” were discussed in the meeting.

She pointed out that Mohib had called Pakistan, not PTI government, as a “brothel”, and it was a common interest of RAW to attack Pakistan. “Such shameless self-interest of Sharif to preserve looted wealth & country be damned.”

Minister for Science and Technology Shibli Faraz said that there was nothing new in this news as Nawaz Sharif has “always kept company of enemies of Pakistan,” be it (India steel tycoon Sajjan Jindal or PM Modi and now Mohib who had called Pakistan a “brothel.”  He also said that it was a shame that the opposition party leader was so “insensitive” to the country’s self-respect. He also said that people in the election of Azad Jammu & Kashmir would respond by voting against his party. 

Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi called the meeting “appalling” said that the former PM has violated their stated policy of having no official contact with this “despicable fool.”  

 After seeing criticism of the PTI ministers, the PML-N leader and daughter of former PM came out in support of her father and said, “Pakistan’s peaceful existence with its neighbours is the very foundation of Nawaz Sharif’s ideology for which he has worked tirelessly.” 

“It is the very essence of diplomacy to talk to everyone, listen to their point of view and convey one’s own message across: something this government doesn’t comprehend and hence is a complete failure on the international front,” she said in her second Tweet. 

Last month, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had lashed out at NSA Mohib for his comments against Pakistan and advised him to “reflect and correct” his behaviour. Mohib during his visit to Nangarhar province of Afghanistan had called Pakistan a “brothel house.”