Qureshi slams Indian FM remarks on Pakistan

MULTAN:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi strongly condemned Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar's statement after the departure of Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, stating that it was against diplomatic etiquette to ridicule the Pakistani foreign minister.

“Although I disagree with Bilawal, I am talking about the foreign minister of Pakistan,” he said while speaking to the media in Multan. “Bilawal Bhutto went there on the invitation of the Indian foreign minister and Pakistan is a member of this forum; Bilawal was his guest, but he ridiculed the Pakistani foreign minister.”
His behaviour was against diplomatic etiquette as he linked Pakistan with terrorism, Qureshi said.

“What justification did you have to link Pakistan with terrorism and call yourself a victim?” he asked.

“There was no justification for it; this may be his own thinking, but it is not; not only Pakistan but also Kashmiris condemned the statement of the Indian foreign minister,” he remarked.

“Bilawal went there because of SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation), Iran also participated for the first time,” he pointed out. “Before Bilawal goes to India, there is a debate about whether he should go there or not; there is Hindutva thinking there, so it is useless to go there, while the second thought was that we are members and should go there for better relations; we went there.”

“Our experienced diplomats should have given Bilawal advice on what should his reaction be if they would raise bilateral issues on the platform of SCO,” he added.
“Mr Jaishankar, you are hiding your eyes from the facts,” he slammed the Indian FM, adding that as a result of terrorism, Pakistan has lost more than 80,000 people and billions of dollars.

“Before pointing fingers at Pakistan, you have to look within yourself; you have to look at your neck,” he added.

He also said that the conditions in occupied Kashmir are getting worse. The situation of occupied Kashmir should be seen in the context of August 5, 2020, since this was an “unconstitutional and illegal move”, he added.

“The world is seeing the true face of India; we have exposed India before,” Qureshi said, asking what was Kulbhushan Yadav doing in Balochistan.

He wondered whether he was on a goodwill visit to Pakistan, or whether he was serving officer caught spying and inciting terrorism in Pakistan.

“This world knows what issue they are working on; India is using it as a shield,” he said.

Regarding political issues, the PTI leader wondered that if the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has decided to “sacrifice” Shahbaz Sharif, what can they do about it.

“Respect the decision of the court and conduct the election and do not sacrifice before Eidul Adha,” he said.

He echoed the accusation of corruption of Rs20 billion in the distribution of flour, pointing out that the government does not have Rs20 billion available to conduct elections.

He said that after Allah, the Constitution is supreme, but lamented that it is being mocked and not being implemented.

“If the constitution is implemented, no crisis can arise; Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) neither looks at the Constitution nor traditions for their purposes,” he claimed.

He added that PDM is not coming to any conclusion, as they want to “run away” from the election.

“Maulana Fazlur Rahman was against the negotiations from the first day and despite Bilawal's efforts, he was not willing to negotiate,” he pointed out.

“Similarly, there is a clear division in the PML-N regarding negotiations; Ishaq Dar has the clear confidence of Nawaz Sharif while the behavior of Khawaja Asif and other ministers is in front of the nation.”

The PTI leader said that in the negotiations with PDM, PTI had agreed on elections in the country through a single-day caretaker setup.

“But when Nawaz Sharif said we do not accept the decision of 3-2; if the four will accept the decision of the three, then we have separated from the negotiations,” he added.

He also said that when negotiating with someone, the environment is made conducive. Before the second sit-in, 33 PTI workers were arrested, he added.
He further said that he spoke to finance and interior ministers in this regard.

“Then the matter went on, then on the same night, Parvaiz Elahi's residence was attacked; anew trial was made against Murad Saeed and what happened to [Ali Amin] Gandapur is in front of the nation,” he added.

In response to a question regarding the case against Elahi, Qureshi said that the federal government has declared indifference to the attack on his house.

“Caretaker Punjab chief minister, Punjab IG, Chief Secretary and other top officials were not in the country; at least the responsibility should be determined,” he demanded.

He said that all over Pakistan, on the call of Imran Khan, at half past five, they were marching peacefully to express solidarity with the chief justice.

In Lahore, Imran himself was leading the rally and rallies would also be held in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), he added.

Section 144 has been implemented despite the permission of the court regarding the rally in Islamabad, he further stated.

“We will go to court against him for contempt; people everywhere in South Punjab, including Multan, will do their part to show solidarity with the court and judges,” he added.