Why Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir slams Sharif–Munir duo after the US visa ban

Visa ban exposes Pakistan’s diplomatic miscalculation

Renowned Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir has sharply criticised the Shehbaz Sharif government after the Trump administration placed Pakistan on its new “visa freeze” list, questioning both the civilian leadership and the military’s strategic judgment. Mir pointed to what he described as a widening gap between Islamabad’s overtures towards US President Donald Trump and Washington’s increasingly hardline immigration stance.

In his commentary, Mir highlighted the irony of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the military establishment — referring pointedly to the “favourite field marshal” — nominating Trump twice for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025. He noted that despite what he characterised as Pakistan’s efforts to “romance” the Trump administration, including claiming credit for easing regional tensions, the outcome has been an indefinite suspension of immigrant visa processing from January 21, 2026.

“India never nominated Trump for a Nobel Prize; in fact, New Delhi has maintained its principled distance on several US policies,” Mir observed. “Yet, India is excluded from this ban, while Pakistan sits at the top of the list.”

Mir argued that the visa freeze represents more than a routine policy change, calling it a failure of “information warfare” and a major diplomatic setback. He accused the government of allowing Pakistan to be labelled a “high-risk” country, with its citizens portrayed as a potential burden on US welfare systems. According to Mir, this has exposed what many in Islamabad now see as the one-sided nature of the so-called “special relationship” promoted by the Sharif–Munir leadership.

The BBC has also questioned the substance of Pakistan’s recent outreach to Washington, asking whether the apparent warmth between the Oval Office and Pakistan’s top brass was ever grounded in mutual respect or was largely transactional.

Mir further criticised the role of the National Paigham-i-Aman Committee (NPAC) and its chairman, Hafiz Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi, in shaping state narratives. He suggested that the government’s continued reliance on religious clerics to project Pakistan’s image abroad only reinforces the “high-risk” categorisation cited by the Trump administration to justify the visa freeze.

With the January 21 deadline approaching, Mir said the signal from Washington is unmistakable: symbolic gestures, including Nobel Peace Prize nominations, carry little weight against the “America First” agenda.