Indira Gandhi negotiated land deal with Pakistan after 1971 war, claims Asif Ali Zardari

Pakistan People’s Party leader and former Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari has made a sensational claim that Indira Gandhi (former prime minister of India) negotiated land deal with Islamabad (involving large swathes of Pakistani land that had been lost to India) after the war between India and Pakistan in 1971. Zardari made the claim in the Pakistani Parliament during a debate on the recent developments in Kashmir.

“We must also realise how Zulfikar Ali Bhutto took back the land after 1971 war. The Pakistan peoples party was formed for the cause of Kashmir. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, after negotiation took back the land from Indira Gandhi,” Dawn quoted Zardari as saying in the joint session of Pakistan Parliament.

Zardari alleged that Indira Gandhi, consequently, received the intelligence inputs that Bhutto was under too much pressure to ensure the rescue of soldiers and would be interested in no other exchange as much as he was likely to seek the soldiers' release. Zardari says that when ZA Bhutto met Indira Gandhi, who was the Indian Prime Minister then, the latter proposed the former to either take back the land or the soldiers.

The PPP leader also said that the India’s decision to abrogate Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir was as serious as the East Pakistan Tragedy. The Kashmir issue is the second major incident after the separation of East Pakistan, Zardari said. During this speech, Zardari even referred to Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan as 'Select' (Selected and not elected PM) and slammed his failure to garner diplomatic support for Pakistan. He also slammed 'Imran's dealing with the IMF at the cost of China's honour'.