Nawaz barred FO from speaking against India, says diplomat.

Byline: sSyed Irfan Raza

ISLAMABAD -- Former spokesperson for the Foreign Office Tasneem Aslam claimed on Sunday that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had barred the FO from commenting against India and its spy Kulbhushan Jadhav. The spy is presently in Pakistan's custody.

'Nawaz Sharif did not want to say anything against India and Jadhav through the Foreign Office,' she claimed during an interview with a YouTube channel being run by an Islamabad-based journalist, Isa Naqvi.

Ms Aslam worked as Foreign Office spokesperson twice - first from 2005 to 2007 during the regime of Gen Pervez Musharraf and then during the last Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government between 2013 and 2017.

Asked if Mr Sharif's instruction benefited the country, she said: 'It did not benefit the country but I do not know whether it benefited his [Nawaz's] own interests or not.'

Ms Aslam said Mr Sharif had business interests in India and he did not meet leaders of India-held Kashmir's political party Hurriyat Conferences when he visited India as the prime minister. 'Usually, every prime minister of Pakistan meets Hurriyat leaders but Nawaz Sharif did not meet them when he visited India.'

Mr Sharif had visited...