UNITED NATIONS, Jun 04 (APP):PPP Chairman and former Foreign Minister, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is currently leading a high-level delegation as part of Pakistan’s ongoing outreach following the recent Indian military aggression, has said his intensive talks at the United Nations were “very useful” and “successful”.
Wrapping up his two-visit to New York, he said he received a sympathetic response to Pakistan’s position on key issues with India, especially New Delhi’s threat to cut off water.
“I am very satisfied with the way our visit proceeded,” Bilawal Bhutto told back-to-back press conferences — first at UN Headquarters in New York and then with US-based Pakistani media at the Pakistan Mission to the UN.
The delegation later left for Washington, where a similar delegation from India, headed by Shashi Tharoor, a former Minister of State for External Affairs, is lobbying with the Trump administration officials, US lawmakers, and speaking at think-tanks.
During its stay in New York, the delegation conferred with the permanent and non-permanent members of the 15-member UN Security Council and its current President, the UN General Assembly President, OIC members as well as with the UN Secretary-General.
Besides Bilawal Bhutto, the delegation members are: Hina Rabbani Khar, Khurram Dastgir Khan, Senators Sherry Rehman, Musadik Malik, Faisal Sabzwari, Bushra Anjum Butt, and former foreign secretaries Jalil Abbas Jilni and Tehmina Janjua.
At both events, Bilawal Bhutto made it a point to call on the international community and the United Nations to push India to engage in a comprehensive dialogue with Pakistan to resolve disputes and maintain peace following the recent military confrontation between the two South Asian neighbours.
Bilawal reaffirmed Pakistan’s readiness to hold a comprehensive dialogue with India, including discussions on terrorism. He said that Pakistan has endured the highest number of terrorist attacks globally and has suffered deeply from terrorism’s consequences. His mother, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed, too, was a victim of terrorism.
Highlighting Pakistan’s consistent condemnation of terrorism in all it’s forms and manifestations, he said the government had immediately offered cooperation for an impartial international investigation into the Pahalgam attack, but India resorted to “illegal strikes” under “Operation Sindoor,” targeting civilian infrastructure in violation of international law and the UN Charter.
Pakistan’s military response was solely in self-defense, he said. “We only responded to those planes we believed had dropped munitions on Pakistani territory.” India later escalated the conflict by launching missile strikes, to which Pakistan responded with precision and downed six Indian war planes.
Bilawal Bhutto sharply criticized Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his war-mongering, comparing him to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the butcher of Gaza. There was no military solution to the issues of Kashmir, water, and terrorism. Since 2019, the delegation leader said, he had targeted Muslims, demonizing them in India and Kashmir.
Bilawal Bhutto expressed grave concern at the unilateral suspension of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty — a move that Pakistan considers a blatant act of weaponizing water and a violation of international and treaty obligations. For Pakistan, that is a redline.
He stressed that due to India’s belligerent aggression, the world had become a less safe place, with real and present implications for peace and security in South Asia.
Reaffirming Pakistan’s commitment to peace, restraint, and diplomacy, he called for the restoration of the Indus Waters Treaty, full respect for the ceasefire, and the resumption of a comprehensive dialogue, with the resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute at its core.
Cooperative relations between India and Pakistan Bilawal credited international mediation — particularly by U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — with helping to secure a ceasefire. However, he warned that while welcome, the ceasefire was only a temporary measure. “The threshold for full-blown conflict between two nuclear-armed nations has been dangerously lowered,” he cautioned, stressing the need for continued dialogue and diplomatic engagement.
Highlighting the danger of rapid escalation, Bilawal warned, “Next time, the international community might not have enough time to intervene.” He emphasized that Pakistan’s civil and military leadership had made great sacrifices in fighting terrorism and deserved international recognition, not vilification.
Bilawal also criticized India’s use of terrorism as a political tool to marginalize Muslims and justify aggressive actions in Kashmir and against Pakistan. Despite this, he expressed Pakistan’s willingness to cooperate with India in combating terrorism, stressing that regional peace could not be held hostage by non-state actors.
He condemned India’s attempt to set a precedent of war in response to every terror incident, calling it “untenable” for two nuclear-armed countries. Bilawal proposed the establishment of a dispute resolution mechanism between the two nations to investigate and address terrorism-related concerns jointly.
He reiterated that the root cause of the conflict remained the unresolved issue of Jammu and Kashmir — an agenda item at the UN Security Council — and stressed the importance of fulfilling international commitments made to the Kashmiri people.
Additionally, Bilawal raised concerns over India’s “weaponization of water,” citing its threats to abrogate the Indus Waters Treaty as a violation of international law and a potential act of war.
“India claims to be a net security provider, but its actions have made it a source of insecurity in the region,” he said. “True security can only come through peace between India and Pakistan.”
