The team of current Foreign Minister of Pakistan Bilawal Bhutto had reportedly contacted the students of Columbia University in New York, USA to arrange a lecture for him.
Pakistan Tehreek-I-Insaf’s former MNA Shandana Gulzar stated the incident in her tweets on Thursday. The incident happened during his latest visit to the United States of America.
As per reports, a team of Bilawal Bhutto had contacted Pakistani students at Columbia University New York to arrange a lecture by him. The students refused. The team then contacted the Pakistani students who also refused reportedly.
The team then contacted students of Cornell University in New York University. The student body then contacted Pakistani students but FM Bilawal Bhutto did not get a chance to deliver a lecture.
There has been a denial by a few social media users and Columbia University and body of Pakistani students but no official denial has come so far from government of Pakistan or foreign office of Pakistan.
“As a last resort, the team asked the general student body at Cornell NY to arrange a lecture. The general student body contacted the PK students and they convinced them to refuse as well.”
— ShandanaGulzarKhan (@ShandanaGulzar) May 27, 2022
“In desperation, the consulate tried to arrange a meeting with 🇵🇰 leaders, business men, & academics (yours truly included). Other than PPP party workers, everyone else refused.” #ImportedGovernmentNaManzoor
— ShandanaGulzarKhan (@ShandanaGulzar) May 27, 2022
The Pakistani consulate also tried to arrange a meeting with Pakistan’s community leaders and businessmen and academics. Shandana Gulzar in her tweet said that besides the party workers everyone else also refused. Shandana Gulzar has not reacted to the denial.
Bilawal Bhutto, however, met with US officials during his trip. During his trip, he said he looks forward to mending ties with Washington. Pakistan’s new Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said he would like to pivot away from a single-issue transactional relationship with the United States as he seeks to repair frayed ties with Washington.
Read more: Pakistan’s FM Bilawal urges US to broaden ties
“Our relationship with the United States has been colored too much by the geopolitical context in our region, and particularly by the events and circumstances in Afghanistan,” Bhutto-Zardari told reporters at the United Nations during his first visit to the United States as foreign minister.
“We would like to pivot away from a transaction relationship, a one-point agenda relationship, to a more broad-based relationship with a particular emphasis on trade,” he said a day after meeting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appointed Bhutto-Zardari, son of assassinated former premier Benazir Bhutto, three weeks ago. Sharif took over last month after Imran Khan lost a confidence vote moved by a united opposition that blamed him for mismanaging the economy, governance, and foreign relations.