PM, PDM lock in new war of words

While expressing solidarity with the people of Kashmir, Prime Minister Imran Khan in his Kotli rally on Friday fired a broadside at the opposition parties while reiterating his resolve not to give the opposition any NRO or reprieve.

The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leaders on the other hand used their Muzaffarabad rally to accuse Prime Minister Imran Khan led federal government of complicity with India, which, they claimed, emboldened the enemy to annex the disputed Himalayan valley in August 2019.

Turning his guns on the 11-party opposition alliance, PM Imran said, "I'm ready for any sort of agreement, but I will never hand out an NRO to the looters". "I will help the opposition out with organizing their long march anywhere they want, but will not give them the NRO".

Leaders of the opposition parties on Thursday geared up for a decisive battle against the PTI led government as they announced that the date of their long march to Islamabad.

Speaking after a marathon summit meeting, PDM President Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that the long march to overthrow the government would be held on March 26.

On Friday, PML-N de facto president Maryam Nawaz said Imran Khan must be held accountable for his failure to stop India from annexing Kashmir – a move that according to her India could not even think about even during dictatorial rules in Pakistan.

“Why your government failed to give a befitting response to India. Your silence shows your guilt. Why you failed to raise your voice for Kashmiris? What is your foreign policy?” Maryam said addressing herself to the prime minister.

She said it was Prime Minister Imran Khan who wished for re-election of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “When the Kashmiris needed your voice, you [Imram Khan] were busy filing a treason case against the AJK prime minister [Raja Farooq Haider],” she said.

Maryam claimed that now the government of Imran Khan is using “their elders” to pressure the PML-N to agree to a constitutional amendment that seeks to change the mode of voting in the upcoming Senate election.

“However, [PML-N supreme leader] Mian Nawaz Sharif and I have told them that we could not cooperate with this fake government even if it cost us our Senate seats,” she added.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told the audience that the PDM will not allow a puppet government to sell the Kashmir cause.

“A selected prime minister cannot give a befitting response to Modi. During the PTI’s rule, India made an unprecedented move on Kashmir. The government is following General Pervez Musharraf’s formula on Kashmir. However, we would send Imran Khan packing before the next election in Kashmir,” he said.

“It is unfortunate that a country that saw a prime minister like Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the first woman prime minister of the Muslim world, Benazir Bhutto, is being run by a ‘puppet prime minister’.”

Bilawal blamed Prime Minister Imran Khan of being helpless following the Indian annexation of Kashmir. “Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly following the annexation, all this prime minister had to say was ‘What can I do?’” Bilawal said.

“Where past Pakistani prime ministers are remembered for their historic speeches given over the Kashmir issue, this reply is what the history will remember the incumbent prime minister for,” he added.

The PPP chairman went on to say that if Pakistan is to respond to Modi’s fascism, it will have to do it through a powerful prime minister and not a “puppet prime minister”. “If we have to defeat Modi, we will need a democratic government, not a ‘selected’ government”, he went on to add.

Referring to the presidential ordinance regarding providing consular access and reviewing and reconsidering the case of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jahav, Bilawal accused PM Imran of trying to play representative to Indian spy instead of being the ambassador of Kashmir.

Bilawal said the PPP continues to stand with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s slogan of referendum [in Kashmir], while blaming the incumbent government of following the governance example set by Gen Pervez Musharraf.

PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman also criticized the prime minister and said it was distasteful for him to call Imran Khan a politician. He warned the people of Kashmir that if they supported Imran Khan, he would damage them, the way he has damaged the rest of Pakistan.

“Today, I want to say something to you. Listen to it intently. We rejected the 2018 elections. This is a rigged government. We will not accept the rigging in the Gilgit-Baltistan elections… and now they [this government] are preparing to rig the upcoming AJK elections,” he said.

The JUI-F further called upon the participants to be wary of candidates who switch loyalties from their parties to the PTI before the AJK elections. “Those who join the PTI for the elections will be considered the traitors of Kashmir, and will not be given votes,” Fazl asserted.

Speaking of India’s annexation of occupied Kashmir in August 2019, the PDM president observed that not only will India’s unilateral action be rejected but, “we will, hopefully, also wage a war to have the action reversed”.

“What has this government given to Pakistan that it will give to Kashmir?” Fazl asked. “This government will ruin Kashmir,” he added. Fazl concluded his speech, expressing hope that Kashmir will win freedom and will become a part of Pakistan.