Zardari slams Nawaz for failing to highlight national issues at international forums

Nothing much has changed since PPP handed over power to PML-N, he said

KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari slammed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif-led government on Tuesday for failing to highlight the issues of terrorism and the Kashmir conflict in the international community.

“The prime minister has no understanding of how to raise terrorism and Kashmir issues at international forums,” Zardari said while talking to journalists in Hub, Balochistan. “The federal government’s neglectfulness can be gauged by the fact that it failed to appoint a foreign minister in the last four years,” he added.



Claiming the federal government failed to address issues confronted by the country, the former president said: “India has enhanced its influence in Afghanistan creating problems for Pakistan, but our government is tight-lipped about it.”

The PPP leader said nothing much changed since the PPP-led regime handed over power to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League in 2013. “Balochistan hasn’t changed much since we left.”

Talking about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, Zardari said it was initiated during PPP’s regime. “In its original draft, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan were given more benefits than the other provinces, but the plan has now been altered giving the lion’s share to one province only, Punjab,” he lamented.

The ex-president said that the issues faced by the Baloch people have not been resolved. “The government is rubbing salt on the wounds of the Baloch rather than addressing their issues,” he said. In response to a question, the PPP leader said a country could not be strengthened by creating divisions among its people.



Talking about PML-N leader Irfanullah Marwat’s alleged defection to PPP, he said Marwat visited Bilawal House and held meeting with him but did not join the party. “I don’t make decisions, but the party and its members have to decide on various issues,” he said.

When asked about his former close friend Zulfiqar Mirza’s decision to rejoin PPP, he said, “There is no room for Mirza in PPP.”