ISLAMABAD - Federal Minister for Communications and senior PTI leader Murad Saeed Saturday said the opposition was doing politics on the proposed legislation aimed at allowing Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav to have consular access in line with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) verdict.

Reacting to the press conference of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, he said that the government had briefed the parliament on the issue but the “opposition was doing politics on Indian spy.” He said that it was the opposition that was shy of even mentioning the name of Jadhav in the past.

He claimed that some of the video statements of people sitting in the opposition were used as evidence against Pakistan in the ICJ.

Rejecting the criticism of the chairman PPP on the ruling party, the federal minister said that Prime Minister Imran Khan sized power through votes of the people after a struggle of 22 years

“He (Bilawal) is the one who cannot understand democracy because he started his political career on a ‘chit’.” He alleged that the chairman PPP was not even aware of the history of Pakistan.

He said that PM Imran Khan had founded PTI in 1996 and had got only one seat in 2002 with the people taunting him that he cannot succeed in politics. Imran Khan even then had rejected the offer to become prime minister, he said adding that he had even refused the offer to become a minister during his cricket days.

In 2013, PM Imran Khan had succeeded to make government in KP with two third majority and then stepped into corridors of power as a result of 2018 election, he reminded.

On the remarks of Bilawal about the government’s foreign policy, the minister reminded that PML-N leader Khawaja Asif had once said in US that PML-N was a liberal party while Imran Khan had leanings towards religion and they could better serve it rather than PTI. Then PPP government led by then President Asif Ali Zardari and PM Yousaf Raza Gilani had also made a commitment with US that the latter should continue with drone attacks and they would only raise voice in the parliament and remain silent, he alleged. “This had been their foreign policy.”

The minister said that it was the PPP’s 1988 government in Islamabad which had removed boards of Kashmir when Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi had visited Pakistan.

He further said that when Imran Khan became PM, he had gone to UN as an ambassador of Kashmir and came out there as a spokesman of Islamic world. He said that the PTI government’s efforts have internationalized the Kashmir issue as it was discussed in UN twice within a year.

Responding to the remarks of PPP leader, the communications minister said that PM was not living in Prime Minister House and even had no camp office. The PM got constructed the road leading towards his house in Bani Gala from his own pocket, he said adding that the PM did not made any foreign private visit.

He claimed that PM Imran Khan’s UN visit cost $162,000 to the national exchequer, then PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s visit to UN had cost $705,000, former PM Nawaz Sharif’s over $1100,000 and then President Asif Zardari’s over $1300,000.

“The whole nation feels pride the way the PM fought case of Kashmir, and the way he exposed India and PM Modi,” the minister said.

He said that the role of Co-chairman PPP Asif Ali Zaradri has also surfaced in the report of inquiry commission on sugar and JIT report on fake accounts. “PM Imran Khan owns no sugar mills.” He said that the report of inquiry commission on sugar states that subsidy was given to the mills owned by Zardari family from national exchequer. PPP will be given no underhand deal, he said. He said that there were incidents of wheat theft from Sindh, the province ruled by PPP.

The minister reminded that corruption scandals were common when PPP was in the central government last time. He said every JIT report mentioned names of PPP leadership.

Regarding criticism of Bilawal on PTI for not fulfilling its manifesto, he said that they were ruling Sindh for the last three generations and four to five decades but people were dying there due to poverty and there were no health facilities available to the people in the province. “As many 98,000 people became victims of dog bite in Sindh and no vaccine was available there.”

He said that it was the PTI government that brought the country out of the diplomatic isolation also. He said that now they were getting requests internationally to play their role in Afghan peace process. Pakistan has also played its role in Iran Saudi Arabia conflict, he said. The minister said that chairman PPP did not want that he be questioned. He concluded that PTI government would hold accountable PPP of its misdeeds for the last five decades.