A record of a key discussion between Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar was leaked, in which the two were talking to an aide about Pakistan’s ties with the US, reports said on Sunday. Geo News cited the Washington Post as saying that records of important foreign policy discussions, dubbed the ‘Discord leaks’, also reveal the premier’s talks on the UN vote on the Ukraine and Russia conflict.
According to the leaked documents, Khar said that Pakistan should avoid appeasing the West and that the country’s desire to maintain a strategic partnership with the US would sacrifice the full benefits of its original strategic partnership with long-term ally China, Geo. News reported. According to one of the leaked documents, Pakistan’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar argued in March that her country ‘can no longer try to maintain a middle ground between China and the United States’ ,” it quoted the US paper as reporting.
During the discussion, an aide advised the prime minister that support of the resolution could jeopardize Pakistan’s trade and energy deals with Russia and would give the impression of a change in Pakistan’s position. The Washington Post story, in which the record was leaked, revolved around declining US support for the war between Russia and Ukraine. “When the UN General Assembly voted on 23 February, Pakistan was among 32 countries that did not vote,” it noted.