If JIT can be formed against us, why not on banned outfits, asks Bilawal

ISLAMABAD: Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Wednesday held the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi responsible for pitting Pakistan and India — the two nuclear states — against each other, saying that Pulwama attack was not carried out by non-state actors coming from any other country.

Taking part in the National Assembly debate on the mini-budget, he said India had committed a naked aggression against Pakistan since 1971 by violating the Line of Control (LoC), and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was responsible for tensions between the two countries. He said the Modi government had broken all records of brutality and inhumanity in the Held Kashmir. “Let the plebiscite take place in the occupied territory so that people of Kashmir can choose their destiny,” he said.

He said Modi was known as the ‘Butcher of Gujarat’ as he committed genocide of Muslims there and had now become the ‘Butcher of Kashmir’. He also paid tribute to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who, he said, was the founder of Pakistan’s nuclear programme.

He also remembered his mother Benazir Bhutto whose government started the country’s missile programme. He said the opposition parties demonstrated responsibility amid a tense situation between Pakistan and India, and Prime Minister Imran Khan was not declared a "security risk" for establishing peace with India.

He also took exception to the prime minister’s absence from an in-camera meeting of parliamentary parties’ heads which briefed by the Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on the security situation in the wake of Indian aggression.

He said Imran Khan kept his ego above national security at such a moment too. He said the government took risk while releasing the Indian pilot within 24 hours of his arrest after his aircraft was shot down by a PAF jet fighter.

Bilawal said the opposition parties had approved the National Action Plan (NAP) after the Army Public School (APS), Peshawar terror attack. However, he questioned whether the NAP was meant for the opposition parties and not for the proscribed organisations.

He said that if a Joint Investigation Team could be fomed against the PPP leadership then why it was not done against the proscribed organisations. However, he said his party was ready to work with the government to address issues of terrorism, economy and foreign policy.

Criticising the government’s economic policies, he said it was blind to the plight of the poor masses. He said the government had even raised the prices of medicines making the poor people’s life difficult.

He said the people of South Punjab, Balochistan, Sindh and Fata were being ignored. PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal said the opposition parties were opposed to the government’s economic policies but the two sides were united when it came to defending the country and national interests.

Ahsan said Nawaz Sharif was dubbed a traitor when the then Indian prime minister (Atal Bihari Vajpayee) arrived in Lahore and accepted Kashmir while standing at the Minar-e-Pakistan but now Imran Khan was saying that he was trying to contact Modi but he was not receiving his call.

He said the Indian pilot Abhinandan was released in a matter of two days but the PML-N government never tried to release the Indian spy Kulbhushan. He regretted that Prime Minister Imran Khan did not keep his word that he would not beg for loans.

“Not only that Imran Khan moved around the world for begging, but also it happened for the first time that a Pakistani prime minister personally went to meet the head of IMF,” he said. He said the PML-N government had increased the GDP growth rate from 3% to 5.8% but during the last seven months it had come down to 4%.

Ahsan Iqbal recalled that the national economy had suffered badly and Foreign Direct Investment had reduced considerably following the ouster of the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Meanwhile, speaking in the National Assembly, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Wednesday invited the opposition leaders in Parliament to give their input on the foreign policies matters.

“I invite the opposition leaders — Shahbaz Sharif, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and other parliamentary leaders — to visit the Foreign Office and sit with us to give their input on foreign policy matters,” he said while responding to the PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto’s speech.

Thanking the opposition parties for their support during standoff with India, he said the government would welcome any suggestion from the opposition parties to come to grips with the challenges facing Pakistan on the foreign affairs’ front.

Speaking about the release of Indian pilot, he said Prime Minister Imran Khan took the decision in best national interest and to de-escalate the situation.

He said Pakistan’s gesture of peace was widely acknowledged by the international community. He said the boycott of the OIC meeting in Abu Dhabi was done in light of the unanimous resolution passed by Parliament in a joint sitting.

He said the joint sitting had also recommended that Pakistan should abstain from the OIC meeting of Foreign Ministers, while the PPPP President Asif Zardari had also announced that he will accept Parliament’s opinion.

He pointed out that the OIC meeting had also passed a resolution on Kashmir and it also happened for the first time that the resolution held India responsible for state terrorism in the occupied territory.

Responding to the concerns of the PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari over non-implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP), Qureshi reminded him that the PML-N had been in government for over four years since the start of the NAP. However, he said the PTI government would now implement the same in letter and spirit.

Regarding allegations against the PTI of taking no action against the proscribed organizations, Qureshi said these organisations did not grow up in the last six months rather it was an old issue.

He said Pakistan was also placed on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) during the tenure of PML-N government. The foreign minister said structural flaws in economy were a major stumbling block which the PTI government inherited from the previous government.