Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari hit out at Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, accusing him of “damaging” the country’s foreign policy by giving his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi a “certificate of friendship” and over his handling of the Kashmir issue.

Addressing an election rally in Bagh area of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), where his heads the government, Bilawal also accused Sharif of going “soft” on India on the issue of the disputed region.

“Mr prime minister (Nawaz) you attended Prime Minister Modi’s oath-taking ceremony and forgot about the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat... The premier damaged the foreign policy of Pakistan by giving Modi his certificate of friendship,” Bhutto said.

Bhutto further said that Sharif is “jeopardising the issue of Kashmir by building his associations with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.

In his speech, Bhutto several times chanted “Modi ke yaar ko ek dhakka aur do, corruption ke sardar ko ek dhakka aur do” (Give another push to Modi’s friend Sharif, give another push to the mastermind of corruption, in the wake of the Panama Papers controversy).

Bhutto, who is the son of slain two-time premier Benazir Bhutto, also criticised the international community and the UN for failing to help the people of Kashmir.

“Sixty-seven years have passed but you (the UN) have also been unable to implement one resolution of plebiscite in Kashmir just like in south Sudan and East Timor,” he said. He asked people to reject Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the next election, as it was the best way to rupture relations between Sharif and Modi.

Bhutto told his supporters that none of Pakistan’s previous leaders dared to stand with an Indian prime minister when India was involved in “worst atrocities in Occupied Kashmir”. He also criticised Sharif for remaining silent over the issue of arrested alleged Indian agent Kulbhushan Yadav.

“Even if a pigeon from Pakistan goes to India, it is considered as an agent. But if an Indian agent is arrested in Pakistan, our government is treating it like a pigeon,” he said.

He also asked Sharif to step down over the issue of Panama Papers leaks. “I demand the prime minister to step down in order to conduct a transparent inquiry into the Panama Papers revelations,” Bhutto said.