'Where's Shehbaz Sharif?': Pakistani Media Calls Trump-Asim Munir Meet 'Unsettling'

Last Updated:June 20, 2025, 20:01 IST

Present at the meeting were not just General Munir but also Pakistan’s top intelligence official, Lt Gen Asim Malik

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (R) and army chief General Asim Munir. (AFP file photo)

Pakistani Army Chief General Asim Munir’s high-level meeting with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday has raised eyebrows in Pakistan, with major media outlets and political commentators describing the optics as questionable.

The unusual setting — a closed-door luncheon in the White House’s Cabinet Room without the presence of any Pakistani civilian leadership — has fuelled concerns about Pakistan’s civil-military imbalance, both at home and across the border.

As reported by Dawn, one of Pakistan’s leading newspapers, June 18 marked a rare moment in US-Pakistan relations. For the first time, a sitting American president hosted a Pakistani Chief of Army Staff (COAS) in such an exclusive and high-level setting.

Present at the meeting were not just General Munir but also Pakistan’s top intelligence official, Lt Gen Asim Malik, who currently serves as the country’s National Security Adviser. However, absent were key civilian figures — no ambassador, no foreign minister, and most notably, no Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

“Notably absent were any Pakistani civilian officials. No ambassador, no foreign minister — only the army chief and Pakistan’s top intelligence officer, Lt Gen Asim Malik, who also serves as national security adviser," the publication wrote.

On the US side, Trump was joined by Secretary of State Senator Marco Rubio and Special Representative for Middle Eastern Affairs Steve Witkoff. The meeting reportedly lasted over two hours, far longer than its original one-hour schedule, according to Pakistan’s military media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

ISPR issued a statement highlighting the perceived success of the visit, claiming that “US-Pakistan relations have achieved in the last three days what India could not achieve in three decades." It also described the meeting as a sign of Pakistan gaining “strategic priority" in Washington.

Yet, back in Islamabad, the “the scene at the Cabinet Room — Trump seated across from Pakistani generals, while Pakistan’s political leadership remained invisible was unsettling in many ways," Dawn wrote.

‘Structurally imbalanced’: India

Meanwhile, India’s Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh criticised the optics of the meeting in an interview with Simta Prakash’s podcast on ANI.

“It must be an embarrassment to any country that the Military Chief gets invited and the Prime Minister is nowhere to be seen," Singh said.

He further called the situation as a “structurally imbalanced state where the military essentially has first claim on resources."

The defence secretary also pointed out that Munir’s presence and Pakistan PM Sharif’s absence in the White House was indicative of the power dynamics in the neighbouring country.

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News world 'Where's Shehbaz Sharif?': Pakistani Media Calls Trump-Asim Munir Meet 'Unsettling'