Former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Tuesday suggested terrorism in South Asia could face significant setbacks if Pakistan and India’s intelligence agencies cooperate against it.
“I am completely confident that if ISI and RAW were ready to sit down and work together to fight these forces, we would see a significant decrease in terrorism in both India and Pakistan,” he told a press conference at U.N. headquarters in New York. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman is heading a high-powered delegation seeking to project to the world Pakistan’s narrative regarding Indian aggression.
Bhutto-Zardari noted that Islamabad had expressed complete willingness to cooperate with any neutral probe into the Pahalgam terror attack that Delhi used as pretext to attack Pakistan last month. “That is how sure we were that our hands our clean,” he emphasized, urging the global community to continue monitoring the situation as the threat of nuclear war between the neighboring states had increased.
“With the intervention of the international community—and I would like to mention particularly the role played by U.S. President Donald Trump and his team led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio—we did manage to achieve a ceasefire between India and Pakistan,” he said, stressing this was only the first step. He said diplomacy and dialogue must continue to achieve sustainable peace, adding Islamabad is ready to engage in an all-encompassing dialogue with Delhi.
“Pakistan would still like to cooperate with India to combat terrorism,” he said. “We can’t leave the fate of 1.5 billion, 1.7 billion people in the hands of non-state actors and terrorists,” he said, while criticizing India for setting a dangerous precedent by linking any terrorist attack in the region to the threat of war with Pakistan.
“That’s untenable,” he said. “You can’t have no dispute resolution mechanisms between two nuclear-armed countries,” he said, proposing the formation of a joint platform for both sides to raise complaints, jointly investigate terror incidents and work together to ensure accountability.
The former foreign minister reiterated his condemnation of India’s attempt to “weaponize water” by holding the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, describing it as a dangerous escalation. “The mere threat to cut off the water supply of 200 million people is a violation of the U.N. Charter. Acting on this threat will be seen as an act of war by Pakistan,” he warned.
He described Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the “Temu Netanyahu,” referring to low-quality copies of products often available on the Chinese platform. “India is being inspired by the Israeli government in all the wrong ways. Modi is the butcher of Kashmir and aspires to be the butcher of the Indus Valley civilization,” he added.
U.N. chief
Earlier, in a meeting with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Bhutto-Zardari urged the global body to take an active role in easing tensions between Pakistan and India. He also sought the U.N.’s aid in restoring the Indus Waters Treaty.
The former foreign minister said India’s recent military provocations and baseless accusations following the Pahalgam attack risked plunging the region into deeper instability. During their meeting, he handed a letter from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to Guterres. The letter expressed Pakistan’s concerns about India’s recent actions and criticized India’s decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty as a form of “water war” being imposed on Pakistan.
Bhutto-Zardari urged the Secretary-General to promote a comprehensive dialogue between Pakistan and India, particularly regarding the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. He said resolving the Kashmir dispute was an unfinished agenda of the United Nations. “The people of South Asia deserve peace, not war,” he said, warning that India was attempting to create a dangerous “new normal” of impunity and aggression.
Guterres welcomed Pakistan’s call for peace and reiterated the U.N.’s commitment to dialogue and the peaceful resolution of disputes. He said the global body remained fully engaged in supporting efforts aimed at de-escalation in South Asia.
The Bhutto-Zardari-led delegation also comprises Hina Rabbani Khar, Sherry Rehman, Musadik Malik, Khurram Dastgir-Khan, Jalil Abbas Jilani, Tehmina Janjua, Bushra Anjum Butt and Syed Faisal Subzwari. It has now proceeded to Washington, where it would meet senior U.S. officials and a think-tank to further advance its concerns regarding Indian aggression.