Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), has once again invoked identity card to discredit the federal government. The PPP chairman said that his party will strongly oppose the “illegal annexation” of Sindh’s islands through a presidential ordinance by the PTI-led federal government.
“I ask how is this act any different to [Indian PM Narendra] Modi’s actions in Occupied Kashmir? [This] move will be opposed in National, Provincial Assembly and the Senate,” tweeted Bilawal on Monday.
The Express Tribune reported that President Dr Arif Alvi on September 1 promulgated the ordinance for establishing the Pakistan Islands Development Authority for the “development and management of islands in internal and territorial waters of Pakistan.” The ordinance, which emerged on social media on Friday, stated, “Whereas the Senate and the National Assembly are not in session and the president of Islamic Republic is satisfied that circumstances exist, which render it necessary to take immediate action.”
Its ultimate objective was stated to be the development of cities, specifically on Bhandar and Dingi islands off Karachi’s shores.
Sindh is no different from IIok?
Many experts were surprised to see the PPP chairman equating Sindh with IoK. It is important to recall that on August 5th, 2019, India illegally divided the Kashmir into union territory and revoked its special status.
How can anyone even make this comparison in their senses not least by leader of a political party. Disgusted at the tweet.. to demean the Kashmiris cause in such a way is easy when sitting on the comfort of a house built on others blackmailed acquired land. https://t.co/ajLaEvdJrn
— Najma Minhas (@MinhasNajma) October 5, 2020
The people of Kashmir have suffered from unjust and cruel policies of the Indian government. The occupied valley has seen at least 229 killings during more than 100 military operations since January 2020, according to a recently released report by the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS). From January 1 to June 30, the region witnessed the extrajudicial executions of at least 32 civilians and the killing of 54 armed forces personnel, the report stated.
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On the contrary, in Sindh, the PPP has been in power for more than a decade now. However, for cleaning Karachi to financially helping the province, the federal government played a main role. Despite a recent package by the federal government to transform Karachi, the PPP has taken a tough stance to appease its ethnic-nationalist supporters in the province.
Bilawal’s use of identity card
This is not for the first time that the PPP chairman equated Sindh with the Indian-occupied Kashmir. On September 12, 2019, Bilawal warned the federal government of dire consequence if it “does not stop controlling Sindh”. PPP chairman was addressing a press conference at the Hyderabad Press Club along with Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah when he said that running a country is not like playing cricket match. The government is playing with the Constitution but they will save the country with their blood.
“This country has already been broken in the past when Islamabad had tried to control the state. It’s not like those people who were less patriotic than you or me […] If PPP and other likeminded parties don’t stand up tomorrow, separate Sindhi, Seraiki, Pashtun states might be formed,” he warned.
PPP chairman tried to associate PM Khan with PM Modi. “You try to build a narrative against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that he unconstitutionally captured occupied Kashmir and at the same time you try to occupy Karachi. This is bizarre,” Bilawal said. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan who has vowed to protect human rights in [occupied] Kashmir has ripped apart the democratic rights of the people of Pakistan. “You want to run Karachi from Islamabad?” he asked.
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