Foreign Minister and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari accused Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan of reintroducing proscribed Tehreek-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa they were repelled from, saying that TTP was being funded in the province.

“The whole nation is united against terrorism but there is only one sympathizer of terrorists in Pakistan and it is Imran Khan,” the foreign minister said speaking in an exclusive interview on Aaj News programme Ru Baroo with host Shaukat Paracha on Friday. He accused the PTI chief of compromising the country’s national security and interests for his political interests.

Bilawal criticized Imran Khan’s government for negotiating with the TTP without first making the outlawed outfit lay down arms.

The foreign minister slammed the PTI-led government for not only embracing the terrorists living in Pakistan but also welcoming those who were staying in Afghanistan. He said that Imran Khan only prioritized his vested political interests over national interests.

“There should be no dialogue with TTP unless they lay down arms and surrender,” the foreign minister said and added that the previous government’s attitude towards TTP was against the national interest.

Talking about Pak-Afghan relations, the foreign minister said that he didn’t think that the Afghan interim government was anti-Pakistan.

The foreign minister said that terrorism was a common challenge for Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban regime which was hit by a bomb blast this week on the gate of its foreign ministry in Kabul.

“The National Security Committee and the government have taken decisions that we will be able to fight terrorism and action will be taken against terrorists and TTP.”

At the beginning of the interview, Bilawal spoke about the success of the Geneva Conference saying that the coalition government’s foreign policy had been successful and that the impression of Pakistan’s isolation had also been buried forever.

The foreign minister said that the government “has achieved target in the Geneva conference, we proved wrong the perception of Pakistan being alone in the world, the world has supported Pakistan in difficult times”.

The PPP chairman said that the coalition government worked hard and the fruits of which were visible.

He said Imran Khan not only damaged Pakistan’s relations with the United States but also angered Europe only to serve his ego. “We expected Europe and the United States to help us get off the FATF grey list of sanctions,” said Bilawal.

Responding to Imran Khan’s criticism of the Geneva conference, Bilawal said that “Imran is used to begging, he spent his entire life begging. I asked the world for trade instead of aid”.

The foreign minister said that Pakistan was determined to save the world from climate change. “The pledges of over 9 billion dollars is a success of diplomacy but our opposition has prioritized personal interests over national interest.”

“The leaders from across the globe visited the flood-affected areas but Imran did not go to the affected areas of Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Punjab.”

He said that when one-third of the country was under water after flood, Khan was busy in his long march.

Praising Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, Bilawal Bhutto said that due to his hard work and presentation, the World Bank gave two billion dollars in aid before the start of the conference. “This is not begging but financing and if it was begging then why did KP Finance Minister Taimur Khan come to the conference?”

The foreign minister said, “in the past, we would talk with the US only about terrorism, but now we talk about health, climate change, trade, and the technology sector, which is a great success.”