Rare earth for rare favour: How Asim Munir played 'salesman' in Oval Office as Shehbaz smiled on

Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif and Army chief Asim Munir during their meeting with US President Donald Trump in the White House last month.

Pakistan’s fragile democracy is once again under the scanner after a fiery intervention in its Senate exposed the Army’s overreach in foreign policy. Senator Aimal Wali Khan tore into Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir’s high-profile White House meeting, questioning not only the gifting of Pakistan’s rare earth minerals to US President Donald Trump but also the very constitutional legitimacy of his trip.

The rare photograph of Munir handing Trump a wooden box filled with minerals, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif smiling in the background, has triggered uproar in Islamabad. For many, it is yet another reminder that civilian leaders in Pakistan have been reduced to spectators while the Army sells off the country’s resources for political survival abroad.

On the Senate floor, Khan thundered, “In what capacity and on what grounds did our Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir present rare earth minerals as gift to the US president?"

He ridiculed the spectacle further: “Munir looks like a salesman selling something to someone, with the manager PM Shehbaz Sharif watching the drama. Munir is touring abroad and attending diplomatic meetings…It’s a joke on the Constitution and the country…There is no democracy. It is dictatorship in Pakistan. This is contempt of Parliament."

The senator demanded a joint session of Parliament to clarify Munir’s meetings with Trump, Pakistan’s support for the US Gaza peace plan, and the shadowy Pakistan-Saudi defence deal.

The White House released an image of the Oval Office encounter, showing Munir presenting Trump with the wooden box of minerals, while Sharif beamed on. Sharif later hailed Trump as a “man of peace" for his “sincere efforts" to end global conflicts, declaring that the Pakistan-US partnership would be “further strengthened to the mutual benefit of both countries," according to his office.

CNN-News18 had previously reported on Khawaja Asif and Sharif admitting that Pakistan functioned under a hybrid regime. Senator Khan’s remarks only reinforced that view. Indian sources told CNN-News18 that “the Army chief is acting as the real power centre and Munir directly negotiating with the U.S. on minerals, defence and geopolitical deals. This confirms that elected representatives remain sidelined. The gifting of Pakistan’s rare earth minerals to the U.S. signals Islamabad’s desperation to seek Western backing at the cost of sovereignty."

Analysts note that rare open criticism from within Pakistan’s Senate highlights cracks in the Army’s narrative control. They say public questioning of Munir’s authority to represent Pakistan abroad indicates growing domestic discontent, even as the Army continues to tighten its grip on power.