Pakistanis' extradition to India: PTI denounces Bilawal's stance

Business Recorder

05-07-2025

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Saturday denounced Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's shockingly appeasing, submissive and apologetic stance, particularly his offer to extradite Pakistani citizens to India under the guise of a so-called confidence-building measure (CBM) — a country that remained actively engaged in state-sponsored terrorism, espionage and subversive activities against Pakistan.
Speaking at a presser, PTI spokesman Sheikh Waqas Akram stated that Bilawal was an 'immature political child', stating that such irresponsible, ill-advised and sweeping statements not only damage Pakistan's national security narrative but also humiliate the country on international platforms.
He lamented that the surrogates imposed upon the nation through electoral fraud, had brought Pakistan to its knees, which completely politically destabilized and economically devastated – solely to cling to power.
'We fail to understand why Bilawal is so keen on appeasing India,' he asked. He stated that Bilawal was proving time and again that he lacked political wisdom, vision and understanding of regional geopolitics. Instead of holding India accountable for its continued aggression, water terrorism and cross-border interference, Bilawal was proposing CBMs that compromise Pakistan's sovereignty and integrity, he said.
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He emphasised that it was imperative to ask Bilawal on whose behalf he issued such a statement and what he intended to achieve by offering such concessions to a belligerent India by humiliating Pakistan on an international stage. He further criticised Bilawal's flip-flop from threatening India with war to begging for peace, saying PPP chairman became a symbol of inconsistency, confusion and contradiction in Pakistan's foreign policy discourse.
PPP was founded by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on the legacy of Kashmir, but today, Bilawal is betraying that legacy by pursuing political gains at the expense of Kashmiri blood, he stated.
He said that leaders were born, not made through makeup and forced media appearances. 'If PPP's intelligentsia truly cares about Bilawal, they should let him contest local body elections first and appear on regional TV channels instead of being pushed on international media, where he only embarrasses Pakistan,' PTI CIS stated.
He asserted that Bilawal was an 'immature political child' who would lead PPP to complete elimination, advising that if the party wanted to survive, he must step aside and hand over chairmanship to Aseefa Bhutto, who, at the very least, showed more promise and sense than him. He said that those encouraging him to go global were not his friends – they were his political undertakers, because pushing him into the limelight without proper grooming, only to expose his incompetence.
Shifting focus to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he cautioned against any covert or overt attempts to destabilise the democratically elected PTI government in the province. He vowed that PTI would resist any such move tooth and nail, as the people of KP have given their mandate to PTI, and they would not allow surrogate rulers to be imposed in KP like elsewhere in the country. He said the people of KP have already suffered enough due to military operations, exploitation of resources and broken promises and PTI would not allow any such misadventure again in the region.
He reminded the centre of the disastrous consequences of past military operations in tribal areas, which brought nothing but destruction, displacement and resentment among tribal people. Therefore, he pressed that instead of repeating failed strategies, the government must prioritise development, infrastructure, education and economic uplift in neglected region.
He emphasised that the solution to Pakistan's internal challenges lied in respecting democracy, empowering provinces and investing in neglected regions, not through coercion and brute force.
Turning to the government's economic mismanagement and flawed foreign investment strategy, he pointed out that while the government loudly trumpeted its claims of attracting foreign investment through the much-hyped SIFC, the ground reality tells a different story. Waqas stated that multinational companies were shutting down their operations due to flawed, shortsighted and self-serving policies — the closure of Microsoft's office in Pakistan speaks volumes in this regard.
Expressing surprise over government double-standard, he said that Pakistan's trade with India surged quietly, yet trade with brotherly neighbour Afghanistan remained suspended, which was not only unjust but also economically suicidal.
Waqas demanded that trade with Afghanistan be immediately resumed to benefit the people of Pakistan and the bordering tribal areas, adding that the imposed regime's anti-people policies were destroying livelihoods of the people.
Akram vowed that the party would fight till the last ball against the current authoritarian regime. He stated that PTI Patron-in-chief Imran Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi and other PTI leadership were facing politically motivated and fabricated cases, but PTI would not back down. Waqas made it clear that they would not rest until release unlawfully incarcerated PTI founder and other leaders, establish the rule of law, constitutional supremacy, and true democracy in Pakistan.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025