Daily Times

The recent statement by Secretary of State Antony Blinken about Pakistan and a “bill” in the Senate on Afghanistan unveiled the reality of few Pakistani American businessmen who claimed to be influential political leaders and friends of President Biden in the US.

All of them were making Pakistani authorities fool for the last many months in terms of building relationships between Pakistan and the US. These gentlemen who were also trying hard to get any spot in PTI’s government as advisors are now eyeing business deals with the Pakistani Government, credible sources confided.

One of the gentlemen who recently received the highest honour by the President of Pakistan is now eyeing millions of dollars of LNG contract with the Imran Khan’s government, after he failed to grab any post in the Federal Cabinet while another one is also working hard to get into business deals with the Pakistani Government but on what cost.

Let’s take a quick look at what is happening right now. in his recent public hearing in Congress, the Secretary of State said that the US will be looking at its relationship with Pakistan in the coming weeks. “It is one that is involved hedging its bets constantly about the future of Afghanistan, it’s one that’s involved harbouring members of the Taliban,” Secretary of State said in his statement.

The telephone call request that has been haunting Pakistani diplomats for the last eight months, is now a sign of embarrassment for these Pakistani-American businessmen.

Another bombshell on Pakistan is the US Senators’ bill in the Senate, which can adversely impact Pakistan. “It envisages the imposition of sanctions with respect to the Taliban and persons assisting them. It mandates that the US Secretary of State must submit a report on the support extended by Pakistan to the Taliban.”

As per the bill, this report must include an assessment of the support provided by state and non – state actors in Pakistan for the Taliban between 2001-20 in terms of sanctuary space, financial support, intelligence support, logistics, medical support, training, equipping and tactical operational support. Additionally, it empowers the US President to impose sanctions against any foreign person who has provided support to any group in Afghanistan.

Now when you ask questions from these so-called fake political leaders as to what they were doing since the swearing-in of the Biden Administration, they blamed Pakistani authorities. Just imagine that these gentlemen who claimed to be close associates of President Biden, cannot even arrange a telephone call between Prime 5?? Minister Imran Khan and President Biden. This telephone call request, which has been haunting Pakistani diplomats for the last eight months, is now a sign of embarrassment for these Pakistani American businessmen. It has also been learnt from reliable sources that these businessmen also got the support of few federal ministers in Pakistan helping them to get business deals with their obvious big cuts.

Many analysts in Washington DC raised questions on the credibility of these businessmen and asked the questions on what grounds these people grabbed the highest national awards in the Presidency a few months ago. “They are selling their fake personalities with the real awards,” senior journalist Kausar Javed said when requested to comment. “The real Pakistani American political leaders and think tanks were hibernating since the Imran Khan’s government started taking care of the fake personalities and look at the achievements, the White House considering imposing sanctions on Pakistan while there is so much hate against Pakistan in the Congress and these Pakistani American businessmen still trying to fool Pakistani authorities with their fake agendas,” he added.

It is a wake-up call for both Pakistani civil and military leadership to get engaged with the real political and community leaders to build a better image and understanding in the US. It is also needed to take measures to prevent any business deals with the so-called Pakistani American political leaders who are still busy selling the name of the motherland for their interests.

The writer is a Washington-based journalist and author. He has been covering international politics and foreign policy for the last 15 years. He can be reached at jahanzaibali1@gmail.com and tweets@JazzyARY.