LAHORE: Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto today [Oct 10] took strong exception to the UDF leaders’ visit to foreign missions, describing it as unprecedented and irresponsible. He was talking to newsmen at the airport. … The Prime Minister ... said … he did not believe that the Opposition leaders could have taken such an … immature decision. However … they not only took such a decision but … also implemented it. “I am sure the wiser among them must have felt embarrassed. …” Mr Bhutto maintained that it was none of the business of foreign countries to discuss our internal questions. “We cannot set wrong examples. We have not become a colony again,” he added.

[Meanwhile, as reported by news agencies from the UN,] Pakistan last night [Oct 9] firmly rejected Afghanistan’s claim over some of its territories, declaring that the border between the two … is clearly defined, physically demarcated on the ground and internationally recognised. “I wish to make it absolutely clear that Pakistan does not include any part of Afghan territory, nor will it part with any of its own territory…,” Ambassador I.A. Akhund told the UN General Assembly.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2024