In a major embarrassment for the Imran Khan government, Pakistan’s Parliament reverberated with ‘Modi, Modi’ chants, forcing Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to lash out in anger.
Balochistan MPs raised slogans hailing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when Foreign Minister was speaking on boycotting French products in the Pakistan National Assembly on Wednesday. They also raised Azadi slogans in Parliament.
The incident shows that there has been growing anger towards Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has been accused of Covid-19 mismanagement and booking opposition leaders in false cases.
As Qureshi began to speak on the resolution and talked about the Balochistan movement, slogans of Azadi were raised. The opposition members disrupted his speech repeatedly. Pointing to PML-N’s Khawaja Asif, the Foreign Minister said it appeared to him that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “spirit has been transferred into him”.
He also accused the opposition of peddling “India’s narrative” and making national institutions “controversial”. “You should be ashamed that slogans for Balochistan’s independence were raised from your platform,” Qureshi said, addressing the opposition benches.
‘Pakistan was petrified of India carrying out an attack’
Earlier, a Pakistani MP speaking in Parliament had claimed that fearing an attack by India, the Imran Khan government had abruptly released Indian Air Force pilot Abhinandan Varthaman, who was captured in Pakistan’s territory in February 2019 after a dogfight with PAF pilots.
The Foreign Minister had in an important meeting pointed out that if Pakistan did not release Abhinandan, India would attack Pakistan “that night by 9 pm,” Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ayaz Sadiq said while speaking in the National Assembly.
The PML-N leader also told opposition leaders that Qureshi in a meeting with the parliamentary leaders had asked for the IAF pilot to be set free.
“I remember Shah Mahmood Qureshi was in the meeting in which Imran Khan had refused to attend and Chief of Army Staff General Bajwa came into the room, his legs were shaking and he was perspiring. The Foreign Minister said for God’s sake let Abhinandan go; India is about to attack Pakistan at 9 pm,” Sadiq said, recounting the events of the important meeting.
