Bilawal Bhutto departs for 7-day US visit

• Bilawal Bhutto to take part in a conference, attend important meetings in US. 
• Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari to lead PPP's campaign in Azad Kashmir in his absence. 
• PM Imran Khan will complete tenure, says Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed. 

PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari left for a seven-day visit of the US Thursday, as per a report in The News. 

A PPP spokesperson said at a private news channel that Bhutto will take part in a conference and also hold important meetings in the US. During his absence in Pakistan, Bhutto's sister, Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari, will lead the party's election campaign in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. 

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah is already in US for a private visit. 

Bilawal visit makes no difference, PM will complete tenure: Sheikh Rasheed

Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmed said it makes no difference to Prime Minister Imran Khan even if the PPP chairperson visits the US thrice,adding that PM Khan will complete his five-year term. 

Talking to newspersons here on Saturday, the minister said the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) has 'finished'. He said the working relationship between the government and Opposition will improve after the Azad Kashmir polls.

“I will accompany Prime Minister Imran Khan during the election campaign in Azad Kashmir,” he said.

“We want peace in Afghanistan,” he said, adding that Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa is taking steps for peace in the war-torn country. 

“We will accept whatever the people of Afghanistan decide,” he said, adding that Pakistan will not allow its soil to be used against any country.

The minister remarked that Imran Khan himself has raised the case of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K) in the world, particularly at the UN. He said no talks will be held with India unless it withdraws its August 5 steps.

'Puppet rulers' worried about Bilawal Bhutto's US trip: PPP

The PPP had lashed out at the government, alleging that "puppet rulers" are afraid of Bhutto's visit to the US and as a result, were creating unnecessary rumours.

The party's statement came in response to remarks from the prime minister's aide, Dr Shahbaz Gill, who had accused the PPP of trying to seek a backdoor deal with the US through Bhutto's upcoming visit. However, the premier's aide had said that the PPP chairperson will derive nothing of benefit from his trip.

"Fawad Chaudhry, Shahbaz Gill and Farrukh Habib are also worried that their leader Imran Khan cannot go to the US without diplomatic immunity because of pending cases in the USA's courts,” PPP Parliamentarians’ Secretary Shazia Marri had said earlier.

Marri had said Bhutto had hope in the strength in the people of Pakistan and it has been proven how General Elections 2018 were stolen from the PPP by creating obstacles in the party's path.