KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto strongly reacted to the statement of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi about Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan and termed it ‘highly provocative, irresponsible and inflammatory’ for the people of Pakistan.
Bilawal said in a statement, “Modi should first stand accountable to the international community for unending and perpetual atrocities against the Kashmiris, Muslims and Dalits in the India-held Kashmir and India.” He added that Balochistan was an integral part of a democratic Pakistan and follies of a dictator cannot empower the Indian prime minister to speak on Pakistan’s internal issues.
He said that India-held Kashmir was under curfew for many weeks and 79 innocent Kashmiris had been mowed down by the Indian armed forces within the last two months alone. He said, “Modi may have some yaars (close friends) in Pakistan but the people of Pakistan would not tolerate such language from him, against Balochistan or any other integral part of Pakistan. We are a sovereign nation having all the tools to maintain our sovereignty at every cost.”
The PPP chairman said that his party along with all the democratic forces of Pakistan have condemned the outrageous remarks of Modi and had asked him to allow the right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir under United Nations aegis, instead of dilly-dallying and prolonging the issue. “Attempts to divert the attention from world’s only nuclear flashpoint Kashmir won’t work.”
He also called upon the UN Security Council to intervene immediately to halt the war-mongering Indian prime minister from dragging the region to devastation and to uphold sanity. He said that PPP workers were standing with the people of Pakistan in a unified and integrated unity to fight against any aggression from the enemy.
