ISLAMABAD, Jun 9 (APP): The head of the Pakistani parliamentary delegation and Former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Monday condemning the weaponisation of water by India, warned that Pakistan would have to take more aggressive steps if India built new canals or a new dam on the three rivers in Pakistan’s domain.
“India’s threat to shut off the water supply to 240 million people in Pakistan is a violation of the UN Charter. Were they to act on it, Pakistan has been very clear: we’d consider that an act of war…We can’t allow this precedent to be set; we can’t weaponize water…Were they to build new canals or a new dam on the three rivers in Pakistan’s domain, we’d have to take a more aggressive step,” he said in an interview with Sky News during his visit to the UK.
Bilawal Bhutto, also the chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) said that Pakistan had been to war with India before and also had many exchanges, but never had such a drastic step been taken.
“At the moment, the threshold for conflict between India and Pakistan is the lowest it’s ever been in our history. We’ve achieved a ceasefire, but we have not achieved peace.”
He said throughout the recent escalation, Pakistan had acted with restraint and responsibility, and even today, “Pakistan’s message is we want peace—peace through dialogue and diplomacy. We believe there is no military solution to any of the issues between India and Pakistan.”
He said that unfortunately, India refused to talk and the delegation was going from capital to capital, engaging with the international community, seeking their assistance in this pursuit for peace.
“Pakistan believes there needs to be dialogue and diplomacy where we discuss all issues—terrorism, Kashmir, or water—and start moving forward.”
The former foreign minister said there was no legal term for suspending or holding the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance as besides Pakistan and India, it also included international institutions as a party which required consensus for any changes.
To a question, he said the water hadn’t stopped flowing as India lacked the capacity at the moment to completely stop it, but they delayed the release.
To a question, Bilawal told the interviewer that Pakistan had taken effective action against terrorist groups under the FATF framework and was removed from FATF grey list, which evidenced the international community’s endorsement of Pakistan’s actions against such groups.
However, he said that the terrorist attack that took place in India had nothing to do with Pakistan – carried out by an indigenous group within India.
Reiterating Pakistan’s stance that President Trump deserved credit for Pakistan-India ceasefire, he said throughout this episode, India had engaged in misinformation and disinformation.
“They’ve not been honest with their own public, the media, or their allies, and this is one additional thing they’re not honest about… They went to war on the basis of a lie, and then they couldn’t win that war. They lied about the planes we shot down, they lied about the details of this terrorist attack,” he said.
Bilawal Bhutto said India failed to name a single terrorist involved in this attack, reveal his identity or any information about border crossing.
Emphasising the UK’s “unique role” in the entire situation, he called the country should encourage India to engage in dialogue with Pakistan.
“India said no to an impartial investigation when we asked for one into the terrorist attack. They say no to mediation, be it from the UK or the US, and they say no to dialogue with Pakistan. If they’re stuck in the status quo, we’ve lowered the conflict threshold between India and Pakistan to the point where any terrorist attack means war.”
Calling Pakistan’s engagements with UK “really positive,” he believed the UK government was keen to encourage both sides to engage in dialogue to deal with all issues. It’s only the Indians who are being difficult about this, he remarked.