Qureshi warns PPP against stoking ethnic tensions

By News Desk

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Friday it was not appropriate for the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) to raise ethnic tensions on the issue of Sindh.

Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, Qureshi acknowledged that PPP always stressed on the importance of the Federation but added it was not appropriate on the part of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto to talk of Sindhu Desh or Pakhtunistan while succumbing to political pressures.

Qureshi further said Sindh was an important unit of the Federation of Pakistan, adding everybody recognised the role of Sindh for the stability of the country. He assured that the federal government held the Constitution in high esteem and would continue to do so it. He assured it would not cause an issue for the Sindh government.

Minister for Law Farogh Naseem had already clarified that his statement on Karachi was distorted, he noted, saying all concerns should end after the clarification of the minister.

He also said Prime Minister Imran Khan would be the voice of Pakistan, Kashmiris and the Parliament on the issue of Kashmir during his address to the United Nations General Assembly on September 27.

He said Khan and Pakistan Tehreek-I-Insaf (PTI) government had effectively taken up the Kashmir issue across the world. “As many as 58 countries during the meeting of the UN Human Rights Council endorsed the Pakistan stance on Kashmir issue,” he told the House.

Clarifying his remarks on the matter of his interview mentioning Jammu and Kashmir, he said his letters written to different international bodies and his statement to the United Nations Human Rights Council, had made his stance clear on the Kashmir issue.

Qureshi said India had to face embarrassment at different international forums, including United Nations Security Council during discussion on Kashmir issue.

Opposition member Khurshid Shah said: “Pakistan is a Federation and Karachi is the face of Pakistan as people from all over the country live there.” He criticised those who were politicising the issue of garbage in Karachi.