‘Selected’ leader shouldn’t make people applaud: Bilawal

SEHWAN: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Sunday accused selected media and commentators of hyping up Prime Minister Imran Khan’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly’s (UNGA) 74th annual session saying that the premier did not make a strong case for the plight of Kashmiris.“You know how in North Korea every time the leader makes a speech or issues a statement, people are made to line up on the streets and they clap [for the government] and anchors are made to sit before cameras on TV and they laud. This is what is happening in Pakistan,” Bilawal Bhutto told reporters.

“Our selected prime minister is being appreciated on our selected media but those who know about the plight of Kashmiris as well as the history of their struggle understand that Pakistan government can play a vital role for our Kashmiri brethren,” Bilawal said while talking to media persons in Sehwan area of Dadu along with Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and other PPP leaders. The PPP chief criticised Prime Minister Imran’s address at the UNGA saying that it was a pre-scheduled speech that they knew he will deliver before [India’s August 5 move] took place. Bilawal Bhutto said that the premier should have focused solely on the Kashmir crisis instead of bringing up other issues. Bilawal Bhutto also regretted that the prime minister did not emphasise the disputed status of the Kashmir territory in his speech saying that some people might think that they have accepted this status quo.

“This is a compromise that Pakistani people cannot tolerate,” Bilawal said. The lawmaker said while it was important to highlight the human rights violations in occupied Kashmir, the premier should also have talked about UN’s resolutions that grant Kashmiri residents the right to self-determination.

Bilawal Bhutto repeated his party’s stance that the prime minister had not done enough to highlight the situation in occupied Kashmir that has been under an unprecedented lockdown since India repealed the region’s special status on August 5. “How many countries has he [prime minister] visited since Article 370 was repealed,” Bilawal Bhutto asked.

“No matter how much our selected media and commentators laud and celebrate the premier’s speech, Pakistani public does not feel the same passion as they are disappointed,” he said. On Friday Prime Minister Imran lashed out at India’s Hindu nationalist government in his maiden address at the UNGA session for its atrocities against Kashmiri residents and the ongoing lockdown in occupied Kashmir. In his 50-minute speech the premier had also discussed climate change, Islamophobia and international tax havens. His remarks came less than an hour before Prime Minister Imran returned to Pakistan from a busy New York visit.