Daily Times

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Tuesday asked PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for not mingling the corruption cases with the Kashmir cause, which was a national issue.

“The Kashmir cause is the voice of hearts of 220 million Pakistanis and it is a collective national issue. Therefore, Bilawal should not do politicking on it,” she said in a video message while responding to a news conference addressed by the Pakistan People’s Party chairman earlier in the day.

She said the whole nation, under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, was expressing solidarity with the people of Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK) and Bilawal should not link his campaign of saving ‘father and aunty’ with the noble cause of Kashmir. The special assistant said the PPP should focus on improving governance in the Sindh province where flash floods were playing havoc. The city of Karachi, which was the country’s economic hub, had sunk in the rain water due to the negligence of its provincial government, she added.

Dr Firdous said the entire world knew about the corruption stories (of Bilawal’s father Asif Ali Zardari and other party leaders) and Karachi’s situation showed that “it has sunk in the sea of corruption”.

She said at present the country was facing two challenges, one at the geographical front of Kashmir and the other about plundering of national wealth, and the government under the leadership of Imran Khan, would succeed on both the fronts. Though the challenges had different dimensions, but the prime minister was tackling them effectively, she added.

She reiterated that there would be no NRO (National Reconciliation Ordinance) with the corrupt elements, who remained involved in the politics of ‘give and take’ in the past. The present government would not compromise at any cost as it was determined to bring the looters to the task, she added. The special assistant said Prime Minister Imran Khan and his government were fully committed to the people of IoK struggling for their right of self-determination. There would be no deviation from Pakistan’s principled stand on the issue, she reaffirmed.

The prime minister, she said, had projected the Kashmir issue at international level and exposed the real face of India among the comity of nations in a more effective manner, which had no precedent in the past.

She said the world community had been apprised about the massive human rights violations being committed by brutal Indian forces in the IoK. Dr Firdous said China had supported Pakistan’s stance on the Kashmir issue realizing that it was based on principles and reality.

She said Pakistan would always be at the forefront in the indigenous movement of Kashmiris for their legitimate right to self-determination. “India will never succeed in suppressing their freedom movement,” she added.