Islamabad:
Vehementedly rejecting the allegations of India binding Islamabad to violence in Jammu-et-Cachemire occupied by the Indians, the president of the PPP, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, said that Pakistan was a victim, not an exporter, of terrorism.
In a fiery speech in the National Assembly on Tuesday, Bilawal said that the Pakistan Foundation was rooted in courage and struggle, not fear. “Let no one confuse our restriction against weakness. The armed forces of Pakistan are vigilant, resolved and prepared,” said the Bhutto Scion.
“Our skies are kept, our borders sealed with a value. From Karachi to Khyber and Lahore to Larkana, our United Nation. The sword that we handle is only drawn when peace is threatened, but when it is drawn, it does not lack,” he warned.
He strongly condemned the immediate reaction of India to a recent deadly incident involving tourists at IIOJK.
“The tourists were killed, the blood was overturned and it was a tragedy by any measure. However, before the bodies became cold, New Delhi moved his anger to Islamabad, pointing their finger, tightening the borders and threatening consequences,” he said.
Bilawal firmly denied any Pakistani involvement and said: “Let me give this clear to the people of Pakistan and the world-Pakistan has not had the hand in this crime. We do not export terrorism; we are victims of terrorism. Terrorism is not only an attack on bodies; it is an aggression against truth, peace and civilization itself.”
He used the opportunity to redefine the concept of terrorism. “What is terrorism? Is it simply the act of a disturbed shooter or a bomb on a market? It is the silence of the world when injustice prevails, the boot on the neck of the oppressed, the bulldozer which shave a house in the dark and the curfew that does not last hours, but decades.”
Defining the story of India, he questioned his moral position in world discourse. “How can you fight against terrorism while practicing state terrorism in cashmere? You cannot condemn the ball while brandishing the stick. You cannot talk about the law while breaking it every day in the valley. You cannot claim moral superiority when your hands are stained with mothers, cries of children and silence of the dead men.”
He stressed that military responses alone cannot eradicate terrorism.
“Terrorism cannot be defeated alone by the tanks, but must be fought with justice. Terrorism cannot be uprooted by bullets; it must be disarmed by hope. Terrorism cannot be eliminated by demonizing nations; it must be defeated by attacking the grievances which give it childbirth.” In the broader conflict in cashmere, the bilawal pleaded for a political resolution rooted in the democratic will of the people.
“Do you want to put an end to violence? So let people speak. That there is a plebiscite, not the persecution. That there are ballots, not bulldozers. That there is an autonomy, not an annex. It is not the path of peace.
Rejecting the allegations of India as an outdated and baseless, he said: “India’s accusations have been expired, rooted in fiction, and no. India has become the boy who cries the wolf in South Asia”. He also reaffirmed the Pakistan file in the face of terrorism and accused India of hypocrisy.
“The hands of India are stained with Sri Lanka in Canada and beyond. India must abandon terrorism as a tool for its foreign policy.”
