Bilawal accuses previous Imran Khan government of not fighting terrorism

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has accused the previous government of Imran Khan of not fully fighting terrorism by ignoring the national action plan to counter it.

"Unfortunately, despite having this plan being on consensus, it hasn't been owned and implemented in the way it should have been by the previous government," he said at a news conference here on Thursday. The government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, he asserted, will fight terrorism.

He said he was "certainly emphasising that the new government, which I am a part of, that we fully own the National Action Plan and will implement it."

He ruled out the possibility of a diplomatic breakthrough with India because of the developments in Kashmir. He cited the abrogation of the special constitutional status of Kashmir in 2019 and the redrawing of electoral constituencies there this year as barriers to improving relations between the two countries.

"Having said that, we are now very cognisant of the fact that economic activity, dialogue, diplomacy are ultimately ways and means for countries to engage with each other and resolve disputes," he said, adding that it was not possible "particularly at the moment given the hostile behaviour".

Earlier, at the Security Council, Bilawal followed the Imran Khan administration's strategy of talking about Kashmir regardless of the topic.

Taking a detour from the debate's topic of Conflict and Food Security, Bilawal raised the delimitation of electoral constituencies in Kashmir, calling it "an assault on the United Nations, the Security Council and its resolutions".

While India's farmers produce more than enough to feed their nation and send surpluses to countries in need and Pakistan's farmers can't grow enough food for their country, he made an odd claim about the agriculturists of the two countries.

"We challenge those that worry about food security: Resolve the Kashmir dispute, open the door to peace in South Asia and watch how the farmers of Pakistan and India can feed the world," he said. (IANS)

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