Disowned visit

It came as a surprise Disowned visit when the coalition government publicly disowned the visit of Tariq Fatemi, Special Assistant to Prime Minister to Washington where he conducted sessions with the personnel of Pakistan embassy as well as parleying with US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. Interestingly, Wendy Sherman acknowledged the meeting through a message stating that she met Fatemi to reaffirm the shared US-Pak goals of expanding relations through enhancing economic and commercial ties. Furthermore, US State Department spokesperson also confirmed the meeting stating that talks focused on coordination on Afghanistan, regional stability and on the devastating effects of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine on food security in Pakistan and worldwide. Pakistan embassy in Washington also confirmed the visit but then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad suddenly disowned the meeting by stating that Fatemi was on a private visit and did not play any role in his meeting with US officials. This disavowal caused considerable consternation to the American side further cementing the impression that in Pakistan domestic political concerns often override relations with other nations to the detriment of interstate relations. It appears that Fatemi is egged on by a faction of the coalition just to be pulled back by another. TW