6 hours ago
1
Describing erstwhile overseas curate Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari arsenic an “immature governmental child,” Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf enactment has slammed him for suggesting that Islamabad could extradite “individuals of concern” to India arsenic a confidence-building measure.
In an interrogation with Al Jazeera connected Friday (July 4, 2025), Pakistan People's Party (PPP) president Mr. Bilawal said, “As portion of a broad dialog with Pakistan, wherever coercion is 1 of the issues that we discuss, I americium definite Pakistan would not beryllium opposed to immoderate of these things.”
He was responding to a question about extraditing Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) main Hafiz Saeed and Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) main Masood Azhar arsenic imaginable concessions and good-faith gestures to India.
Both LeT and JeM person been banned by Pakistan, according to the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA). Saeed, the 26/11 Mumbai panic onslaught mastermind, is presently serving a 33-year condemnation for panic financing. Azhar, a UN-designated planetary terrorist, has been proscribed by NACTA and surviving successful an undisclosed spot for the past galore years.
Reacting to Mr. Bilawal's remarks, Sheikh Waqas Akram, spokesperson of the jailed erstwhile premier curate Imran Khan-led PTI, successful a connection connected Saturday, said the PPP person is an “immature governmental child”, the Dawn newspaper reported connected Sunday (July 6, 2025).
Mr. Bilawal's connection was ill-advised and detrimental to Pakistan’s nationalist information narrative, and specified statements humiliate the state connected planetary platforms, helium said. “We neglect to recognize wherefore Bilawal is truthful keen connected appeasing India,” helium said.
The erstwhile overseas minister, Akran said, was proving clip and again that helium lacked governmental wisdom, vision, and knowing of determination geopolitics.
“Bilawal has go a awesome of disorder and contradiction successful Pakistan’s overseas argumentation discourse... PPP was founded by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto connected the bequest of Kashmir, but today, Bilawal is betraying that bequest by pursuing governmental gains astatine the disbursal of Kashmiri blood,” helium said.
‘Noncompliance from Delhi’
In the interview, Bilawal said that cases prosecuted against these “individuals” (Saeed and Azhar) were those related to Pakistan, specified arsenic violent financing. However, helium noted that prosecuting them for cross-border coercion was hard owed to what helium claimed was “noncompliance” from Delhi.
“India is refusing to comply with definite basal elements that necessitate that condemnation to instrumentality place,” helium said.
“It’s important… to contiguous grounds wrong these courts, for radical to travel implicit from India to testify, to enactment up with immoderate the counter-accusations volition be. If India is consenting to beryllium cooperative successful that process, I americium definite determination volition beryllium nary hurdle successful extraditing immoderate idiosyncratic of concern,” Mr. Bilawal said.
Where are Saeed and Azhar?
Pressed connected the whereabouts of Saeed and Azhar, Mr. Bilawal stated that the erstwhile was incarcerated, portion Islamabad believes the second is successful Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Hafiz Saeed's lad excessively has questioned Mr. Bilawal's remarks. “Bilawal Bhutto should not person talked astir extradition of Pakistanis. His connection is against the authorities policy, nationalist involvement and sovereignty, and we powerfully condemn it,” Saeed's lad Hafiz Talha Saeed said successful a connection successful Lahore connected Sunday.
“Bilawal Bhutto is either unaware of crushed realities oregon promoting the enemy’s narrative,” helium said and questioned, could a authorities typical speech astir handing implicit citizens to an force country?
Mr. Talha defended his begetter saying nary of Saeed's enactment is against Pakistan.
Saeed, who has been successful Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail since 2019, was subsequently convicted successful panic financing cases for aggregate years. His LeT is liable for carrying retired the 2008 Mumbai panic attacks that killed 166 people.
English (US) ·