Ahead of Pakistan polls, PPP's Bilawal Bhutto makes Kashmir promise

BILAWAL Bhutto Zardari, the prime ministerial face of Pakistan People's Party (PPP), on Monday (5) promised to take up the Kashmir issue more intensely if he is elected the country's prime minister in the general elections of February 8.

In a post on X that coincided with Pakistan's so-called 'Kashmir Solidarity Day' the same day, the 35-year-old Bhutto wrote that it was essential for the PPP to succeed in the upcoming electoral tests to stop "Indian atrocities" in Kashmir.

"By ending the politics of hatred and division in Pakistan, it is inevitable for the nation to unite in the power of unity and consensus for the cause of Kashmir," he said, adding that Pakistan's founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah had declared "Kashmir as the aorta of Pakistan."

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Bhutto Zardari also promised to follow in the footsteps of former Pakistani prime ministers Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, his maternal grandfather, and Benazir Bhutto, his mother. While the former was hanged by military dictator Zia-ul-Haque, the latter was assassinated during a rally ahead of the election of 2007.

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"I will advance the cause of Kashmir by being elected Prime Minister. I will awaken the conscience of the world to fulfil its promises to Kashmiris," Bhutto Zardari, who was the foreign minister in the previous administration headed by the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), said.

Political leaders in Pakistan often rake up Kashmir issue just before the elections in their country with some calling for restoring Article 370 for Kashmir, something that India's Narendra Modi government abolished in 2019.

Bhutto Zardari has been urging people to vote against the PML(N) led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. He asked people to vote for the "arrow", the PPP's election symbol, if they wanted to stop the "lion", the PML-N's symbol.

"You just get PPP won [elections]. I will handle this lion," he said.

While Sharif has been in favour of having good ties with all neighbours, including India, Bhutto Zardari is known more for his anti-India rhetoric. He has also targeted Modi in harsh terms in the recent past.

In December 2022, Bhutto Zardari had triggered a major controversy by remarking at a United Nations meeting in the US, "Osama bin Laden is dead, but the butcher of Gujarat lives and he is the Prime Minister of India."

New Delhi slammed his comment and said it was a "new low, even for Pakistan".

However, Bhutto Zardari also became the first Pakistani leader to visit India in 12 years when he reached Goa in May last year to attend a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.