Bilawal says Kashmir issue root cause of Indo-Pak tension

Islamabad, Oct 12: Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the chief of Pakistan People's Party, today said that the vexed issue of Kashmir was the root cause of hostility between India and Pakistan. "Much of the ensuing hostility in the subcontinent is due to the festering dispute of Kashmir," he said.

Bilawal, the scion of highly influential Bhutto family, was addressing the National Youth Parliament's session in the Sindh Assembly. The 'Gen Next' politician said the world should pay attention to the "brutal occupation" of Kashmir as his party has been demanding.

The resolution of the issue will bring peace in the region. Bilawal's comments came days after he had said that his Pakistan People's Party (PPP) would get back entire Kashmir from India. "I will take back Kashmir, all of it, and I will not leave behind a single inch of it because, like the other provinces, it belongs to Pakistan," he had said, addressing the party workers in Multan region in Punjab on September 19.

Bilawal, who has announced plans to contest next general elections in 2018, heads the secular Pakistan People's Party which officially wants good ties with India. His mother, former slain premier Benazir Bhutto, was twice elected as prime minister while his maternal grandfather Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who founded the PPP in 1967, also served as prime minister in 1970s.

PTI