ISLAMABAD: In comments that could add more fuel to the diplomatic fire between Islamabad and Washington, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi termed US President Donald Trump as a “reckless man”, even as he urged both the countries to work toward “resetting ties”.
Qureshi is the latest leader to join the war of words between Trump and Prime Minister Imran Khan after the former alleged that Pakistan had not done a “damn thing” for the US in exchange for all the aid provided by Washington.
In an interview with a local television channel aired on Monday night, Qureshi said: “Blaming Pakistan for the US’ failures in Afghanistan is not fair.” He said the world knew Trump as a “reckless man”, adding that “resetting ties was a need for both countries”.
“The US is in dire need for a partner to help it in Afghanistan and do some face-saving for it. Therefore, if the US seeks Pakistan’s role in bringing peace and stability in Afghanistan, it should acknowledge Pakistan’s cooperation and support rendered thus far,” he said.
After Trump responded to Khan’s tweet claiming that Pakistan is among many countries that take from the US without giving anything in return, Khan, on Monday, fired back saying Trump’s false assertions only added insult to injury and that Pakistan would now do what was best for its own interests.
“Trump’s false assertions add insult to the injury Pakistan has suffered in the US War on Terror in terms of lives lost and destabilized economic costs. He needs to be informed about historical facts. Pakistan has suffered enough fighting US’s war. Now we will do what is best for our people and our interests,” Khan tweeted.
His comments follow other tweets posted on Monday where he sought to set the record straight by telling Trump to quit using Islamabad as a “scapegoat” in his “tirade” against the country.
In a four-point tweet, Khan explained why Trump’s comments were unjustified, reasoning that “No Pakistani was involved in 9/11 but Pakistan decided to participate in the US war on terror” nevertheless.
He added that while Pakistan suffered 75,000 casualties in the war and incurred losses of more than $123 billion to the economy, the aid provided by the US was “a minuscule $20 billion”.
Elaborating on the catastrophic effect that the war on terror had on Pakistan’s tribal region and on the lives of its ordinary citizens, he said: “Our tribal areas were devastated and millions of people uprooted from their homes. The war drastically impacted the lives of ordinary Pakistanis.”
In his concluding remarks PM Khan said that instead of making “Pakistan a scapegoat for their failures, the US should do a serious assessment of why, despite 1,40,000 NATO troops plus 250,000 Afghan troops and reportedly $1 trillion spent on the war in Afghanistan, the Taliban today are stronger than before.”
He ended his statement by asking Trump is he could “name another ally that gave such sacrifices”.
Trump then responded to Khan by saying that: “Of course we should have captured Osama Bin Laden long before we did. I pointed him out in my book just BEFORE the attack on the World Trade Center. President Clinton famously missed his shot. We paid Pakistan billions of dollars and they never told us he was living there. Fools!”
He further claimed that “we no longer pay Pakistan the $billions because they would take our money and do nothing for us, Bin Laden being a prime example, Afghanistan being another. They were just one of many countries that take from the United States without giving anything in return. That’s ENDING!”
In an interview with Fox News aired on Sunday, Trump justified the cancelation of $300 million in military aid to Pakistan by saying that “we’re supporting Pakistan, we’re giving them $1.3 billion a year — which we don’t give them any more, by the way, I ended it because they don’t do anything for us, they don’t do a damn thing for us.”
Talking about slain Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden who was found hiding in Pakistan, a short distance away from the country’s prestigious military academy, Trump added that “everybody in Pakistan knew he was there”.
Federal Minister for Human Rights, Dr. Shireen Mazari, issued a statement on Monday terming “Trump’s tirade against Pakistan” a lesson for all those Pakistani leaders “who kept appeasing the US especially after 9/11!”
She added that the “loss of Pakistani lives in the US war on terror, the free space for Raymond Davis and other operatives, the illegal killings by drone attacks — the list is endless…once again history shows appeasement does not work”.
“Whether China or Iran, the US policies of containment and isolation do not coincide with Pakistan’s strategic interests,” she said.
Former Senate Chairman, Raza Rabbani, termed Trump’s remarks “contrary to the facts” and reminded the US president that his “language regarding a sovereign state was aggressive”.
“He should be careful; Pakistan is not a state or colony of the US,” Rabbani said, further reminding Trump that “the US killed Pakistanis in unauthorized drone attacks, the US-sponsored terrorism in Kabul, and a drug industry was created on the Pak-Afghan border for the financial assistance of the US”.
“The Pakistani nation is paying the price of political and economic instability due to its alliance with the US,” he said.
Former Foreign Minister, Khawaja Asif, also took to Twitter to rebuff the US president’s remarks saying, “We continue to pay in blood for what we did for the USA.”
In a tweet which was later deleted, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party claimed that the US government “is having an extremely hard time accepting the fact that the current Government of Pakistan being led by @ImranKhanPTI will not accept the terms and conditions they want to enforce on Pakistan; Wake up! #PMIKSaysNoMore”
The already strained relations between the US and Pakistan took a turn for the worse in January this year when Trump suspended security assistance to Islamabad over the alleged presence of Afghan militant groups in Pakistan’s tribal belt — a claim rejected by Islamabad.
Qureshi terms Trump “reckless”, says blame game unfair
Qureshi terms Trump “reckless”, says blame game unfair
- Foreign Minister reacts to unsavory comments posted by US president on social media
- Tweets forced PM Khan to hit back with an equal measure
Opposition protests over Imran Khan’s eye treatment as government offers specialist care
- Opposition alliance says protest in front of parliament to continue until Khan is admitted to Shifa Hospital
- Government says the ex-premier’s medical report will be compiled again amid judicial oversight of the case
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s opposition alliance staged a sit-in outside Parliament House on Friday demanding that jailed former prime minister Imran Khan be shifted to a private hospital for treatment of his worsening eye condition, as the government promised the best possible treatment and said the case was under judicial oversight.
Police locked the gates of parliament and cordoned off surrounding roads, preventing protesters from gathering in front of the building, witnesses and opposition leaders said. Security was also tightened around Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) House, where officials and lawmakers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were stopped from approaching parliament.
The province is governed by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party which is in the opposition at the center.
“We have staged a sit-in for the earliest medical check-up of Imran Khan, which would take just ten minutes,” Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and head of the opposition Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Ayeen-e-Pakistan alliance, told reporters at Parliament House.
“If it is conducted, we will end our protest,” he added.
In a post on X, the alliance said its leadership would continue the sit-in “until Imran Khan is admitted to Al-Shifa Hospital.”
A group of protesters, led by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, also camped outside the KP House in the federal capital after an initial scuffle with police.
During the clash KP government spokesperson Shafi Jan was arrested but later released as more protesters gathered outside the facility.
Jan warned that if PTI activists were prevented from joining the main protest, they “will give a call for a countrywide strike.”
“We want to proceed toward Parliament to join the protest,” he added. “We want the Supreme Court’s verdict to be implemented that Imran Khan be shifted to Shifa Hospital, treated there and then brought back.”
The protest follows a rare prison visit earlier this month by Barrister Salman Safdar, appointed as amicus curiae by the Supreme Court to assess Khan’s health and living conditions at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail. Safdar submitted a detailed report that was made public on Thursday.
The report said that in view of the seriousness of Khan’s ocular condition, “it is imperative that the seriousness of the condition be independently ascertained without delay.”
Safdar also recommended that the court consider involving Khan’s personal physicians or other specialists of his choice, warning that “any further delay poses a serious risk to the Petitioner’s well-being.”
According to a Feb. 6 medical report from the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) cited in Safdar’s filing, Khan was diagnosed with “right central retinal vein occlusion” after reporting reduced vision in his right eye. He underwent an intravitreal injection at PIMS and was discharged with follow-up advice.
In his interaction with Safdar, Khan said he had suffered “rapid and substantial loss of vision over the preceding three months” and claimed his complaints had not been addressed promptly in custody. He further said he had been left with “only 15 percent vision in his right eye.”
Safdar’s report noted that the 73-year-old former premier appeared “visibly perturbed and deeply distressed” over the loss of vision, though it also recorded that he expressed satisfaction with his safety, basic amenities and food provisions in prison.
Responding to the controversy, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry rejected PTI’s claims that Khan had been suffering from an eye issue since October last year.
Speaking to reporters in Islamabad, he said Khan was visited by his sister on Dec. 2 but she did not mention the medical issue.
“Medical report will be compiled again, the chief justice of the Supreme Court is himself monitoring this case,” he said. “Wherever it will be requested, Imran Khan’s eye will be examined at.”
Chaudhry vowed there would be no negligence.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar earlier rejected claims of mistreatment, saying the “narrative being propagated to international media” by Khan’s family had “fallen flat on its face,” and that prison records showed he enjoyed facilities “more than any other prisoner.”
Khan has been in custody since August 2023 in connection with multiple cases that he and his party describe as politically motivated. The government denies the allegation.
Concerns over his health resurfaced after authorities confirmed he had briefly been taken from prison to a hospital in Islamabad for an eye procedure. While the government said his condition was stable, Khan’s family and PTI leaders alleged they were not informed in advance and that he was being denied timely and independent medical access.
