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'Cavemen' should not decide India, Pak foreign policy: Bilawal

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Press Trust of India Karachi
Pakistan People's Party leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said "cavemen living in hills" should not be allowed to decide the fate of Pakistan and India's foreign policy.

"We should not allow non-state actors, these cavemen living in hills, to decide Pakistan and India's foreign policy. Otherwise ceding to them at that level how do you expect us to go back to the people and expect them to fight them at all the other levels," the 25-year-old Bhutto family scion said.

Asked about whether there was a commitment from PPP's side to address India's concern on terrorism after the Mumbai attacks, Bilawal said, "Not only myself, the PPP is committed to peace with India and working out all disputes.
 

"We are not addressing terrorism because its India's concern, we are addressing terrorism because its our concern. And the PPP has and the government of the country has been addressing the issue of terrorism. The issue of terrorism, on either side must be addressed, law and order must be addressed," he said in an interview to CNN-IBN.

Pakistan blames non-state actors for terror strikes in India, including the 2008 Mumbai attacks that claimed 166 lives.

Bilawal has been increasingly voicing his views on various issues in recent weeks and has announced that he and his sisters, Aseefa and Bakhtawar, would become part of mainstream politics before the next general election in 2018.

Asked why another member of the Bhutto family is needed in politics, Bilawal said, "It's the incomplete missions and visions of the assassinated leaders that must be completed and I think upon that emotional moment you take it upon yourself and you continue to take it upon yourself and try to achieve what they were not allowed to.

"So to that extent...There is nothing more motivating in a son's life in particular than making his mother's dream come true," he said.

Bilawal said he had learnt most things including politics from his mother (Benazir Bhutto) as she "raised her three innocent children with one hand and with the other she challenged dictatorships".

Bilawal completed his graduation with honours in contemporary history and international politics from Oxford University last year. He is now busy learning Urdu and Sindhi.

He did not led the PPP's campaign in the May 11 general election last year despite calls from candidates, particularly from Punjab, to address rallies, sparking reports of differences with his father former President Asif Ali Zardari and his aunt Faryal Talpur over running the party's affairs.

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First Published: Feb 07 2014 | 7:59 PM IST

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