Doubt over Donald Trump's praise for Nawaz Sharif

Islamabad/Washington: Did US President-elect Donald Trump actually shower those glowing comments on Pakistan and its Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during their telephone conversation? While Sharif’s office has released a read-out of his conversation with Trump, the US president-elect’s team has issued bare minimum information, triggering much bemusement both in mainstream and social media. Donald Trump lavished praise on Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif and offered to play “any role” in helping Pakistan address its problems, a Pakistani statement said.

“You have a very good reputation. You are a terrific guy,” Trump had said praising Sharif. “We know that Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and US President-elect Donald Trump spoke on the phone Wednesday. What was said during that call is what’s at issue,” CNN commented. “After the conversation, the Pakistan Prime Minister’s Office put out a statement directly quoting Trump — a violation of diplomatic protocol — in which he glowingly praised Sharif,” the network said. Readouts of phone calls between world leaders are usually written safely way in order to protect leaders from incidental backlash — like the one the Trump team put out, it said.

“They’re dry and diplomatic statements summing up conversations using carefully chosen buzzwords,” it said, adding that such calls themselves are usually quite formal. “A President wouldn’t gush over a foreign leader the way that Donald Trump did. He wouldn’t volunteer to do all these things,” says CNN political analyst David Gergen said. “Our relationship with Pakistan is one of the most sensitive and difficult relationships in the world. It’s an extremely important relationship.” “You’d carefully think through any call like that, you’d make your two or three points, [then] over and out,” he said. “Especially don’t leave them in a position where they could put out something so gushing that it hurts your relationship with India.”