Bhutto downplayed Kashmir issue at international forums: Gandapur

Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Ali Amin Gandapur on Thursday once again laced into the former prime minister Zulfiquar Ali Bhuto for what he deemed “marginalising Kashmir issue through Simla Agreement,” claiming Prime Minister Imran Khan had breathed new life into the issue.

Addressing an election rally of Pakistan Tehreek-e- Insaaf (PTI) at Patika, Gandapur said Kashmiri people should vote his party to strengthen PM Imran who he said was “their ambassador and who would put forth the Kashmiri cause at all international forums bravely”.

Earlier on Tuesday Gandapur had made similar critical remarks about late Bhutto, stirring chaos in the National Assembly for calling him a “traitor” and Mr Sharif a “robber” during an election rally in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

Mr Gandapur termed the late Bhutto a “traitor” while speaking about the 1971 East Pakistan tragedy.Speaking to the rally on Thursday, the minister said the incumbent premier had made it clear that the decision of the Kashmiri people would be honoured through the right to self-determination and Pakistan would go to any extend to grant them the right to decide their future.

He warned that the lingering Kashmir dispute was threatening regional peace as it constantly instigated conflict between two nuclear powers. “The world had to pay attention towards the resolution of the issue for durable peace in South Asia,” Gandapur pointed out."Prime Minister Khan is playing a role of ambassador for Kashmiri people and will convince the international powers to grant them the right to self-determination," the minister asserted.

Lamenting that the international powers did not recognise the role played by Pakistan and the sacrifices it offered in the war against terrorism “due to poor policies of the former rulers,” the minister affirmed his government would not spare corrupt elements and the accountability process would be continued across the board.

Taking a jibe at Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz,  Gandapur said the PML-N leader had the audacity to claim that she had the Kashmiri blood coursing through her veins, “forgetting that it was the  Sharif family who had invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to their wedding ceremony at a time when India was subjecting Kashmiri people to atrocities”.

The minister also heaped scorn on Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), saying its government had failed to deliver in Sindh “and had taken away an amount of Rs45 billion meant for AJK during its government in centre and did nothing for the development of Azad Kashmir”.

He said his government had given a package of Rs370 billion for GB and would give a package of Rs500 billion for Azad Kashmir after forming a government in the region. APP