SUKKUR: Senior Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Syed Khursheed Shah has called for “improving political situation and government-opposition relations” in the country, warning that India was eager to take advantage of Pakistan’s internal unrest.

Speaking to the media during his visit to the Sukkur Civil Hospital on Saturday, he said India dared to hurl threats to Pakistan because it was encouraged by the political unrest prevailing here. He, however, said it was the responsibility of government to improve political situation in the country so that no foreign power could dare to impose a war on Pakistan.

Regarding Indian defence minister’s statement that his country may revisit its nuclear policy, Mr Shah said we [Pakistan] could not come under pressure through such threats.

“If India wants to test its muscle, let it go for an adventure and then realise its own blunder,” he said, and expressed his confidence that Pakistan’s armed forces were fully prepared to foil enemy’s nefarious designs. India would get a befitting response from the entire nation, “which is fearless and must not be underestimated”.

Mr Shah said it’s not a matter of might, but war was no solution to any issue. Therefore, both India and Pakistan should avoid going for a war.

He said that all political forces in Pakistan were united when it came to the sovereignty and integrity of the country. “We [opposition forces] will set aside our differences with the government or rival parties for the sake of the country, rest assured,” he said, adding: “Pakistan was great and will remain great”.

Expressing his views on governance, Khursheed Shah observed that the prime minister knew nothing about politics and its principles. “All in his mind is taking revenge from opposition parties’ leaderships,” he said. As such, he was mounting more and more pressure on to paralyse opposition forces which was only causing damage to the country. He remarked that he [Imran Khan] still found himself atop a container and not in the chair of a prime minister as his attitude showed.

He said Pakistan’s economy was weak and must be made strong. A war would ultimately strike hard the poor, who were already hard-hit by inflation, price-hike, unemployment and other issues, he said.

“While in the US or Europe, he acts like making speeches atop a container,” he observed.

The senior PPP leader also argued that Mr Khan refused to walk with shoes during his first visit to the holy city of Madina but he did wear a Nagra [pair of traditional shoes] in his second visit to the same holy city. “This had put his companions in a fix,” he said.

Commenting on Indian forces’ brutalities in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Shah said it was wrong to say that a curfew was imposed on the entire valley 14 days ago. Rather, he said, occupied Kashmir had been under curfew for around nine months. He said people of occupied Kashmir were now faced with unprecedented atrocities at the hands of the Indian forces.

He said the United Nations Security Council must take appropriate action to protect rights of Kashmiris.

Mr Shah was of the view that Washington always tended to benefit from Indo-Pak tension and pointed out that it was still pitting the two nuclear powers against each other under the same policy.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2019