'What a joke': Pak lawmaker mocks 'salesman' Munir's rare earth display for Trump

Pakistan’s Army Chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, is under fire after his latest trip to Washington, his third visit in just six months. A photo from the Oval Office showed Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif giving a box of Pakistan’s rare earth minerals to US President Donald Trump. What was meant as a proud gesture has instead caused a political backlash at home. In parliament, Senator Aimal Wali Khan mocked the scene. He said Munir looked more like a “salesman” carrying a briefcase of minerals, while the prime minister stood by like a “manager” watching the act.

Khan said, “Our chief of army staff is roaming around with a briefcase containing rare earth minerals. What a joke! It was absolute mockery. Whoever saw that photo thought, ‘Which chief of the army staff would go around carrying a briefcase with rare earth minerals?’ To me, it looked like a big, branded store – a manager watched on happily as a shopkeeper tells a customer to purchase a big, glittery thing from him.”

He also questioned why the Army Chief was holding talks with foreign leaders at all. Calling it an insult to parliament, he asked: “In what role? Under which law? This is nothing but dictatorship. I’m sorry, but this is not democracy. Isn’t this a clear contempt of parliament?”