ISLAMABAD: Senior leader of the Pakistan People’s Party Abdul Rehman Malik has advised Prime Minister Imran Khan to end the politics of confrontation and invite the opposition for a roundtable conference to evolve a consensus on national issues.
“The confrontation policy is not beneficial for the country and also for the system, and if he wants the country to move on the path of development then he should adopt the politics of creating consensus on national issues instead of confrontation,” he said in an interview with the Jang and The News on Wednesday.
During the interview, Abdul Rehman Malik spoke on national politics, Kashmir issue, Afghan peace and coronavirus. He also demanded of the government to allocate the quota of corona vaccine for the people of the Indian Occupied Kashmir, who were being denied Covid-19 vaccine by the Modi regime.
Malik said he believes that “General Bajwa Doctrine” will lead the way for peace in Afghanistan. “The Bajwa Doctrine is the only way to lead towards peace as fencing on the borders was also a part of the Bajwa Doctrine,” he said.
He said the United Stated has not given any exit strategy from Afghanistan and if they did not come up with any strategy, then he fears that the Taliban will capture Kabul. “The Taliban refused to talk in Turkey,” he said.
He suggested for the formation of a national government in Afghanistan after the exit of the allied forces, adding all the stakeholders have to come on consensus on minimum agenda. “Ashraf Ghani, Abdullah Abdullah, Northern Alliance, Taliban should sit and come out with a consensus for peace in Afghanistan, otherwise bloodshed will continue there that will effect Pakistan also,” he said.
He said Pakistan’s role for peace in Afghanistan is more important. “India has no role for peace in Afghanistan, as those powers who wanted to give role to India in Afghanistan were not interested in Afghan peace,” he said. He said India has become a symbol of terrorism in the world.
He also condemned the terrorist attack on a girls' school in Afghanistan and added that it reminds of the incident of the terrorist attack on the Army Public School, Peshawar, as one particular mindset was involved in it.
Malik said India has been found involved in illicit nuclear proliferation activities and uranium theft, as there is a history of unauthorised possession of radioactive material in India. He urged the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to take serious notice of continuous nuclear proliferation by India and probe into the incidents on urgent basis. He requested the IAEA to refer the case of nuclear proliferation to FATF as it is too serious to be ignored and allowed to endanger the world peace as it is a serious issue. Malik suggested to the government to end its soft policy towards India.
He said the people of Pakistan were perturbed on the statement of Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, calling 370 as India’s internal affair. He said Foreign Minister Shah Mehmmod Qureshi has now clarified his statement. “The government should not take soft stance on India otherwise people will not tolerate it,” he warned.
In reply to a question, Malik said curfew has been imposed in the Indian Occupied Kashmir for last one and a half year and due to curfew, the corona vaccination was denied to the people of Kashmir by the Modi regime of India. “It is my proposal that we should take the corona vaccination to the Line of Control in Kashmir for the people of Kashmir to convey them the message that people of Pakistan stood with people of Kashmir,” he said. Malik said if the government did not pay attention to his proposal, then he himself will go to the LoC with corona vaccination.
In reply to a question, Malik stressed the need for taking serious steps to stop the Islamophobia. “I had interactions with US President Joe Biden and I hope that Biden will also work with us for ending Islamophobia,” he said.
Malik criticised the government for allegedly receiving Zakat and Fitrana from Saudi Arabia and said if the government ask the overseas Pakistanis, then it receives more donations than Saudi Arabia. “You went there with a big begging bowl and got 10,000 bags of rice," he alleged.
While suggesting the dialogue on national issues, Malik suggested to Prime Minister Imran Khan to pick the phone and give Eid greetings to all opposition leaders. “Open the ways with one phone call for national agenda and put the country on the path of development as the system did not need further confrontational politics,” he said. He said everyone, either treasury or opposition, will have to play their role to strengthen the system.
In reply to a question, Malik claimed the Indian variant of corona has now reached Pakistan that needs to follow up the SOPs. He appealed to the government to provide vaccination to every Pakistani as it was the responsibility of the state to provide free vaccination to its citizens. “I appeal to the prime minister to import 150 million doses of Covid-19 vaccination and ensure free vaccination,” he said.
He was of the view there should be a complete lockdown as smart lockdown did not serve the purpose. “The federal government should take all the provinces on board on corona instead of confrontation with provinces,” he said. He appealed to the people to follow the SOPs on Eid day.
