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Following Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s empty rhetoric on the Indus Water Treaty, Union Minister for Commerce Piyush Goyal on Saturday slammed the PPP Chairman, stating that the presence of such politicians in the world was “unfortunate”.
Goyal further noted that Pakistan was a “despondent” country with no priorities other than spreading terror. He expressed confidence that many Pakistani nationals would not even agree with Zardari’s views.
“Pakistan is a despondent country and they don’t have any priority apart from spreading terror. It is unfortunate for the world that there is a presence of such politicians in it. I condemn this and I am sure Pakistani nationals also don’t agree with such statements,” the Union Minister said.
This came in the wake of the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, after which India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, leading Bhutto to resort to empty rhetoric.
Earlier on Friday, while addressing a public gathering in Sukkur, Zardari stated that just as the PPP did not approve a controversial canal project without consensus, Pakistanis will stand united and give a resounding response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aggression on the Indus River, as reported by Geo News.
“The brave people of Sukkur have sent a clear message by participating in the rally that we will not allow anyone to bargain over the Indus… The Modi government is unilaterally suspending the Indus Water Treaty…but I want to stand by the Indus River in Sukkur and give a clear message to India that the Indus River is ours and will remain ours; either our water will flow from this Indus or your blood,” the PPP chairman said.
On Thursday, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khwaja Asif had admitted that his country has been funding and backing terrorist groups.
In a video clip that went viral, Pakistan’s Defence Minister was in conversation with Sky News’s Yalda Hakim when she asked him, “But you do admit, you do admit, sir, that Pakistan has had a long history of backing and supporting and training and funding these terrorist organisations?” Khwaja Asif, in his reply, said, “We have been doing this dirty work for the United States for about three decades… and the west, including Britain… That was a mistake, and we suffered for that, and that is why you are saying this to me. If we had not joined the war against the Soviet Union and, later on, the war after 9/11, Pakistan’s track record would have been unimpeachable.”
The Pakistani Defence Minister in the interview with Sky News presenter Yalda Hakim warned of an “all-out war” possible with India.
Following the terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 people, the Central government announced several diplomatic measures, such as closing the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Attari, suspending the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES) for Pakistani nationals, giving them 40 hours to return to their country, and reducing the number of officers in the High Commissions on both sides.
India also halted the Indus Waters Treaty signed in 1960 in the wake of the Pahalgam attack.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also assured the country that the terrorists responsible for this attack, along with those who conspired it, will face punishment beyond their imagination.
(With ANI Inputs)
