{"id":6619,"date":"2026-07-20T07:54:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T07:54:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/?p=6619"},"modified":"2026-07-20T07:54:58","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T07:54:58","slug":"ahsan-iqbal-responds-to-bilawal-says-kashmir-wants-lahore-like-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/?p=6619","title":{"rendered":"Ahsan Iqbal Responds to Bilawal, Says Kashmir Wants ‘Lahore-Like Development’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NAROWAL:<\/strong> Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal<\/strong> has responded to Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s<\/strong> remarks ahead of the upcoming Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) elections, saying the people of Kashmir want development similar to Lahore and “will not allow Kashmir to become like Karachi.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking at a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) workers’ convention<\/strong> in Narowal, Ahsan Iqbal defended his party’s performance and said voters were well aware of the governance records of both the PML-N and the PPP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addressing Bilawal directly, the federal minister said, “Bilawal Sahib, the people of Kashmir know the performance of both your party and ours. They know during whose tenure corruption flourished.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahsan Iqbal argued that the PML-N’s development agenda remained popular across the country and claimed that the majority of Pakistanis supported the party’s model of governance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stated that “90 percent of Pakistan will vote for the development model represented by Lahore,” adding that the PML-N’s performance has earned public support throughout the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The minister further described the PML-N as “a symbol of Pakistan’s strength” and said the party remained committed to development, economic progress, and improving public infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His remarks came a day after PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari<\/strong>, while addressing a public gathering in Kotli<\/strong>, predicted a major victory for his party in the upcoming AJK elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bilawal had claimed that the PML-N would suffer a defeat “that history will remember” and expressed confidence that the PPP would form the next government in Azad Kashmir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PPP chairman also said that if elected, his party would represent the voice of the Kashmiri people at every available forum. He emphasized that the future of Kashmir should be decided solely by its people and stated that he hoped to win every seat in Kotli to help form the next government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exchange of statements reflects the intensifying political campaign ahead of the AJK elections, with major political parties highlighting their respective governance records and development agendas in an effort to attract voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The comments attributed to both leaders are political statements made during election campaigning. The outcome of the elections will ultimately be determined by the voters of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAROWAL: Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal has responded to Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s remarks ahead of the upcoming..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/438376_9244292_updates-1.jpg",700,400,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/438376_9244292_updates-1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/438376_9244292_updates-1-300x171.jpg",300,171,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/438376_9244292_updates-1.jpg",700,400,false],"large":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/438376_9244292_updates-1.jpg",700,400,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/438376_9244292_updates-1.jpg",700,400,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/438376_9244292_updates-1.jpg",700,400,false]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Pakistan<\/a>","tag_info":"Pakistan","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6619"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6623,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6619\/revisions\/6623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}