DADU: Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said Prime Minister Imran Khan should have dedicated his entire speech at the United Nations General Assembly to the disputed status of Kashmir and the crisis in the occupied valley that the Indian forces had turned into a jail, but he failed to raise this point efficiently.

People were questioning the effectiveness of the prime minister’s speech as he raised the issue of political prisoners in India-held Kashmir when his own government had put his “political opponents” in prisons, he said, adding that it weakened the Kashmir case.

The PPP chairman was speaking to journalists at Naing Sharif in Sehwan Sharif after offering his condolence over the demise of PPP lawmaker Syed Ghulam Shah Jilani.

Accompanied by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Information Minister Saeed Ghani, PPP lawmaker Sardar Sikandar Ali Rahpoto, PPP local leaders Amanullah Shahani and Aijaz Dhamrah and others, Mr Bhutto-Zardari said there was no comparison between Mr Khan and Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. “Wish this was true,” he said when asked to comment on the prime minister being compared to the PPP founder after the former’s speech.

PPP leader believes PM should have talked solely about Kashmir issue at UN

He said people wanted that the PM should have refrained from using Kashmir narrative for his PR (public relations). “The masses expected the PM would take steps and endeavour to get the Kashmir issue resolved,” Mr Bhutto-Zardari said, asking a journalist what the premier had practically done to date after India scrapped the region’s special status. “I knew PM will deliver such speech and raise some points as it was pre-scheduled,” he remarked.

Those closely monitoring the Kashmir situation were disappointed as the people of the held valley had sacrificed their lives for the right to self-determination and they felt the PM should have pressed for plebiscite, he said. “When you don’t question the move to revoke disputed nature of the region, people will be justified to assume you have accepted and compromised on it, but people will not tolerate that,” the PPP chairman added.

He said that Mr Khan despite claiming to be aware of the Indian move even before Aug 5 had done nothing to counter the actions in Kashmir, yet the “selected” anchorpersons were praising the ‘selected’ prime minister. He reminded the journalists that in North Korea people were brought on roads to clap for their leadership and “selected anchors” appreciated their speeches. “Same thing is happening here that selected media and anchors are applauding Mr Khan,” he said.

But the masses were disappointed as the government had made common man’s life miserable by passing an anti-people and International Monetary Fund-sponsored budget, the PPP chairman said. He said his party’s views on opposition had been consistent and his struggle would continue for the rights of the people.

Replying to a question about the movement being launched by Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman, he said the demand of the JUI-F and the PPP was same. He said the PPP would start its second phase of struggle soon as he had plans to address two protest public meetings in Sindh before entering southern Punjab. “I along with masses and with God’s help will send this inept government packing,” he said. He said that when he used word “selected” some people had objected to it, but the recent disqualification of the deputy speaker of the National Assembly proved it was a selected government, as 65,000 votes that went against him were declared invalid. Every “selected” one would go home, he remarked.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2019