US Charge d’affaires in Pakistan Angela Aggeler visited Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz Sharif at her home in Raiwind on Thursday.
In a video posted by PML-N on Twitter, Sharif could be seen greeting Aggeler outside her residence, Jati Umrah. The two sat inside and were observed having a conversation amidst several other PML-N leaders, including former prime minister Shahid Khaqqan Abbasi, and Ahsan Iqbal, Khurram Dastgir, and Marriyum Aurangzeb amongst others.
In a subsequent video posted by the party’s twitter handle, Aggeler could be seen meeting PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif.
Journalist Gharidah Farooqi said that the US high official’s visit was an interesting turn of political events. Commenting on her authority, Farooqi said that Aggeler was the deputy to the US Ambassador to Pakistan.
Another journalist Moeed Pirzada added to the political commentary and said that Beijing had just tweeted praises of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s commitment to industrial cooperation. Pirzada added that the Aggeler meeting with Sharif who was a ‘convicted politician’, defied the ‘norms of western democracies. The US diplomat’s visits, said Pirzada, spoke mounds of the ‘regional power dynamics’.
Others also criticized the diplomat’s visit on the same grounds. Civil engineer Asfand Bakht Yar said that it was a shame that the US made the effort to meet a ‘convict’. He wondered whether the US government would allow the same to happen.
A technical advisor at a think tank, Matee Dogra, said that Pakistan was yet to reap the potential of female leaders. Dogra added that Sharif should represent Pakistan on more international platforms.
https://twitter.com/MateeDogra/status/1448596414930595851
The significance of the meeting was also questioned by a journalist, Suhaib Zuberi, who wondered why US officials met with the country’s opposition government.
Aggeler has been active in her diplomatic activities in recent days as she met with Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari at the Zardari House in Islamabad on September 24. British High Commissioner Christian Turner was also present at the meet up.
Aggeler and Bilawal discussed the regional situation in Afghanistan and mulled over a possible visit of the US official to Sindh. On Thursday, the charge d’ affaires to Pakistan, along with other officials, also took a trip to Lahore’s Wazir Khan Mosque. The group discussed possible cooperation and efforts to preserve heritage and culture in Pakistan.
