Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif called President-elect Donald Trump to congratulate him on his victory.
Trump responded by calling Sharif a “terrific guy,” and confessed feeling like he has known him for a very long time. The summary of the phone call was released by the government of Pakistan, where Trump was invited to visit Pakistan and he told the Prime Minister to feel free to call him anytime before he assumes office. Trump’s press team has not released any statement concerning the call.
Trump is now a world leader
The text presented by the Government of Pakistan’s Press Information Department is as follows:
“Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif called President-elect USA Donald Trump and felicitated him on his victory. President Trump said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif you have a very good reputation. You are a terrific guy. You are doing amazing work which is visible in every way. I am looking forward to see you soon. As I am talking to you Prime Minister, I feel I am talking to a person I have known for long. Your country is amazing with tremendous opportunities. Pakistanis are one of the most intelligent people. I am ready and willing to play any role that you want me to play to address and find solutions to the outstanding problems. It will be an honor and I will personally do it. Feel free to call me any time even before 20th January that is before I assume my office.”
On being invited to visit Pakistan by the Prime Minister, Mr. Trump said that he would love to come to a fantastic country, a fantastic place of fantastic people: “Please convey to the Pakistani people that they are amazing and all Pakistanis I have known are exceptional people,” said Mr. Trump.
Contact with Pakistan, a predominantly-Muslim country, constitutes Trump’s first steps in international politics, seeing that he had proposed a ban on Muslims entering the United States, and extensively criticized Obama and Clinton for not coining the term “radical Islamic terrorism.”
During his campaign, Trump suggested that Muslim immigration should be halted, at least for a while, and that any Muslim entering the country should be submitted to an ideological test to rule out the possibility of a terrorist act caused by the subject. He has also opposed the entry of immigrants that apparently to not undergo a sufficiently strict background check. The President-elect has cited Israel as an effective model for comparison, as they profile people that the homeland security department deems as suspicious.
When pressed for specifics, Trump changed his stance and said that it would not only be Muslims that would get profiled, although Muslims are included in the measure.
Concerning the de facto ban on Muslims entering the U.S., the statements on Trump’s website calling for such measure have been deleted, which according to Internet archives, were still present on the domain until November 8. The pages presented statements that accuse a large part of the Muslim population of a hatred towards the American way of life.
Now, seeing that Donald Trump has to deal directly with world leaders, many of which are representatives of millions of Muslims, he will have to tread carefully to not let his campaign rhetoric smear his presidential term with xenophobia.
Source: Government of Pakistan