ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib Friday said that those having family terms with Indian Premier Narendra Modi had no right to talk of the rights of Kashmir.
Addressing a press conference here, he asked PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz to refrain from lecturing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Kashmir policy as she had no right to even discuss it because of her family’s personal relations with the Indian prime minister.
Recalling the time when Nawaz Sharif, as the PM, had preferred to attend Narendra Modi’s oath-taking ceremony and refused to meet the Hurriyat leaders of occupied Kashmir in India, he said the Indian PM was used to attend private functions of the Sharif family.
He said it was Nawaz Sharif, who being Prime Minister of Pakistan, made a deal on Kashmir, adding, it was an open secret now that he used to meet high-profile people from India without bringing into the knowledge of the state institutions.
Farrukh reminded Maryam that Narendra Modi had visited her home in the past after reviewing progress on establishment of a network in Afghanistan which was developed to destabilise Pakistan by carrying out terrorist attacks. The minister said the people of Kashmir would definitely vote for Imran Khan to get rid of their exploitation at the hands of the PML-N. There was another politician, who became chairman on the basis of a ‘parchi’, campaigning in the AJK for the Pakistan People’s Party, he said, asking Bilawal Zardari whether he wanted to introduce culture of corruption and TTs (telegraphic transfers) in the AJK.
He said the federal government allocated record funds for the GB in the Public Sector Development Programme 2021-22, aimed at improving road infrastructure, boosting tourism and completing hydel power projects. Farrukh hinted at a similar development package for the AJK, which according to him, would mark a new era of development in the valley. To a query, he said the prudent policies of Prime Minister Imran Khan had started paying dividends as the economic growth was on upward trajectory.
He said Kashmiris’ hearts beat with Pakistan, and they knew that Prime Minister Imran Khan would never make any compromise on their cause. Rejecting opposition’s undue criticism of Imran Khan’s Kashmir policy, the minister said the PM had categorically stated there would be no talks with India until it restored pre-August 5 status of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
He said: “There were many pressures on us. Even our own local businessmen, who import raw material from India, had a demand for resuming bilateral trade.
“But Prime Minister Imran Khan, while keeping in view sacrifices and struggle of Kashmiris, took principled decision that we would not have any talks with India until restoration of the pre-August 5 status,” he added.
Farrukh said the PM had proved himself a true ambassador of Kashmiris by highlighting the Kashmir issue vociferously at every international fora including the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), United Nations General Assembly, in meetings with former United States President Donald Trump and others.
“He left no forum in the world where he did not speak about the cause of Kashmir and its people,” he added. He said PM Imran Khan exposed obnoxious face of his Indian counterpart across the globe by highlighting his atrocities in the IIOJK and his despicable act of ripping the valley of its special status. He said the Western media, which avoided reporting against India, had started highlighting the human right violations, committed by the occupation forces in the IIOJK.
The international magazines wrote articles against Modi, he said, adding that it was Prime Minister Imran Khan who played a great role in familiarizing the world with Modi’s callous mindset and modus operandi against humanity. He said Pakistan would continue its moral, diplomatic and political support to the people of Kashmir. The minister said that the people of Azad Jammu and Kashmir would only elect the party whose leader had courage to speak with the US on equal footing and respond Modi in a befitting way, and the one who would never compromise on Kashmir cause.
