Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday took a jibe at Islamabad as it mediates talks between Iran and the United States, highlighting allegations that Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif‘s X post was drafted by Washington.While talking to reporters, Tharoor said, ‘Do you know what kind of relationship Pakistan has with Washington… There have been some allegations that Washington wrote that tweet for the Pakistani PM, because it had the heading, “Draft for Pakistan PM.”“If you and I wrote something for the Indian Prime Minister, would we write ‘Draft for India’s PM’ above it? And the language used was also Washington’s language. Also, some of the phrases were similar to those used by Donald Trump a few hours ago. Only Pakistan can play the kind of role it has played with Washington,” he added.This comes days after Pakistan’s Shehbaz Sharif briefly posted a “draft” message about the Iran conflict on his official X account before quickly editing it. The post called for a two-week ceasefire and diplomatic pause and appeared just as the United States and Iran moved towards a temporary truce.In both versions, Sharif urged Donald Trump to extend his deadline for military action by two weeks to allow talks to progress. He also appealed to Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz for the same period, describing it as a goodwill gesture. “We also urge all warring parties to observe a ceasefire everywhere for two weeks,” the post read, framing the pause as essential for “long-term peace and stability in the region”.Within hours, Washington and Tehran confirmed they had agreed to a two-week ceasefire, stepping back from the brink of a major escalation.The breakthrough followed a dramatic shift by Trump, who had earlier threatened sweeping strikes on Iranian infrastructure if Tehran failed to meet his demands. Instead, he paused planned attacks shortly before his own deadline, saying the decision was based on conversations with Sharif and Pakistan’s military leadership. “A two-week period will allow the agreement to be finalised,” Trump said, signalling cautious optimism.Meanwhile, delegations from the US and Iran arrived in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Saturday to hold peace talks over the ongoing war in the Middle East. The Iranian delegation, led by Parliament Speaker Bagher Ghalibaf and comprising 71 members, including the country’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi, landed in the Pakistani capital early in the day. Whereas US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, along with Jared Kushner, arrived at noon. The American delegation is being led by US Vice President JD Vance.
