If PTI Is Not Ready to Fight Terrorists, PPP Is Ready: Bilawal

KARACHI – Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi was a coward who refused to fight terrorists, and that if Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is not ready to confront terrorists, the PPP is ready.

Speaking to the media at a ceremony commemorating the martyrs of the Karsaz tragedy in Karachi, Bilawal said PTI invited terrorists from Afghanistan into Pakistan and freed terrorists from prisons, and today the country is suffering the consequences of those wrong decisions.

Bilawal said it was their compulsion to impose an emergency due to terrorism. Maulana Fazlur Rahman cannot deny that terrorism is taking place in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but the chief minister of one province was not ready to cooperate with the federation. He said Maulana should openly condemn the terrorists, and that they will not allow anyone to take down the Pakistani flag from any part of Pakistan. “We will all confront the terrorists together; our brave forces are sacrificing for the country’s security; the war against terrorism will continue and the terrorists will be eliminated,” he said.

Bilawal said confronting terrorism is their priority and both the government and opposition must play their role against it. Maulana Fazlur Rahman can play his role in eliminating terrorism, and if the opposition truly wants to end terrorism and emergency, it should come and talk.

He said Mohsin Naqvi knows what President Asif Zardari and the PPP’s stance is regarding provinces, and that this cannot be done without the signature of the President of the country. The PPP’s position is clear that provinces can be formed through constitutional and legal means. If a provincial assembly wants provinces to be formed there, they can be formed — so why are provinces not being created where consensus exists? In Gilgit-Baltistan, there is a demand in every household that it be given provincial status.

He said Maulana Fazlur Rahman has the right to criticize the government’s policy, and the PPP has always imposed emergency through constitutional and legal means. “We are not in the government, but we are trying to deliver according to our manifesto,” he said, adding that the government and opposition all respect Maulana Fazlur Rahman, who can play his role in ending terrorism and governor rule.