Ahsan Iqbal slams PTI for hiring lobbying firm in US

ISLAMABAD: PML-N leader and federal minister Ahsan Iqbal has strongly criticized the PTI for hiring a lobbying firm in the United States to reportedly rebuild ties with the Biden Administration.

“Have you no shame. A conspiracy theory has been created in the nation and it has come down to excuses and apologies from the US,” said Ahsan Iqbal in a tweet, while sharing a copy of the agreement between PTI USA and the lobbying firm.

“First, they sent interlocutors, begged the ambassador, and now they are working on the apology by hiring a lobbyist. Even the computer is confused by how many faces there are of this captain,” he said in a jibe against PTI chairman Imran Khan.

شرم تم کو مگر نہیں آتی!

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قوم میں امریکہ کیخلاف سازش تھیوری گھڑ کے ہیجان پیدا کیا ہوا ہے خود امریکہ سے ترلوں اور معافیوں پہ اترا ہوا ہے۔پہلے ایلچی بھیجے، پھر سفیر سے خود منت سماجت کی اور اب lobbyist رکھ کے معافی تلافی پہ کام ہو رہا ہے۔اس کپتان کے کتنے چہرے ہیں کمپیوٹر بھی پریشان ہے pic.twitter.com/G57EnL7d7t

— Ahsan Iqbal (@betterpakistan) August 12, 2022

The PTI has reportedly hired a lobbying firm in Washington DC at a cost of $25,000 per month to support its “goals for good relations with the United States and the Pakistani diaspora in the US”.

According to documents shared social media, PTI has engaged Fenton-Arlock LLC, which was also hired by the Pakistan Embassy in United States in March 2022 for $30,000 a month.

The documents were unearthed by Uzair Younus, Director of the Pakistan Initiative at the South Asia Center. Younus also shared a link to where the documents are publicly available on a US website.

He also shared a screenshot of the document to corroborate his claim that the firm would support the goal of the PTI Pakistan for good relations with the United States and the Pakistani diaspora in the US.

In recent years, Pakistan has engaged a dozen lobbying firms in the US to lobby with American politicians on a range of issues from gaining support on Kashmir issue to seeking aids and grants and building a narrative against minority rights in India.

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