If ISI and RAW sit together, there would be a significant decrease in terrorism: Bilawal | The Express Tribune

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has stated that if ISI and RAW sat down and worked together, there would be a significant decrease in terrorism both within India and Pakistan. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman said this while addressing a media briefing at the UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday.

He maintained that in terms of the number of terrorist attacks in quantum terms, more terrorist attacks take place in Pakistan than in India. “Ultimately, the fact of the matter is that above and beyond this accusation and counter-accusation and this finger pointing, what would actually be more effective would be if Pakistan and India were to work together to combat terrorism,” he said. 

“Pakistan has been a very responsible partner in the fight against terrorism. We have suffered in this fight and grown through our combat experience with terrorists. We have learned our lessons; now it is time for the world to learn theirs,” he added.

Bilawal, leading a high-level parliamentary delegation, condemned India’s illegal strikes inside Pakistan on May 7, calling them a violation of the United Nations Charter and international law. He said the attacks targeted civilian infrastructure, places of worship, dams, and water and energy facilities, causing civilian casualties, including women and children.

“Pakistan would still like to cooperate with India to combat terrorism. We can’t leave the fate of 1.5 or 1.7 billion people in the hands of non-state actors and terrorists, allowing them to decide on a whim that two nuclear-armed powers should go to war. This is the new normal — the new abnormal that the Indian government is trying to impose on the region,” he maintained.

Bilawal stated, “At the moment, Pakistan is willing to put all cards on the table. Let’s talk about terrorism, let’s talk about Kashmir, let’s talk about water—let’s make peace. We are not shying away from any investigation. In fact, despite having no legal obligation under international law, we presented ourselves to international accountability because of the confidence we have that our hands are clean.

There is only one country that is running away from dialogue, running away from investigation, refusing to accept international law, and refusing to accept the UN Charter. So, either we decide that the UN Charter doesn’t apply, international law doesn’t apply, and therefore it no longer applies to India.

All of us who do believe in international law will continue to insist that we abide by this international law, but all parties must also abide by this international law—whether it comes to the issue of Kashmir, terrorism, or, most basically and importantly, the Indus Water Treaty.”

He blamed India for using the April 22 Pahalgam attack in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) as a pretext for aggression. “We express our sympathy with the victims of terrorism and Pakistan has consistently condemned terrorism in all its forms,” he added.

Bilawal recalled that following the Pahalgam attack, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif publicly offered Pakistan’s cooperation in any impartial international investigation, confident of Pakistan’s innocence. However, India rejected the offer and launched strikes, to which Pakistan responded in self-defence by downing six Indian planes that had attacked its territory.

He added, “If there’s a terrorist attack anywhere in India, anywhere in IIOJK, it means war with Pakistan. And reciprocity would mean that any terrorist attack in Pakistan, particularly given our long list of complaints about Indian involvement in Balochistan and KP with BLA, means war with India. That is untenable; you can’t have no dispute resolution mechanisms between two nuclear-armed countries.”

In addition to initiating dialogue on terrorism, Bilawal expressed hope that both countries would agree on a complaint mechanism to jointly resolve bilateral issues. He identified the root cause of terrorism in IIOJK as the unresolved Kashmir agenda before the United Nations Security Council.

Bilawal confirmed that Israeli drones were used during India’s attack on Pakistan. “The actions of Indian government post 2019 to do with the imposing demographic changes within Kashmir does draw parallels by between what settler programme within the West Bank as far as being inspired, India being inspired by the Israeli government unfortunately its being inspired in all the wrong ways,” he said.

He added that India’s conduct was outside international law and the UN Charter, criticizing the arrogance with which it believed, “it could get away with this that you can just scream terrorism and it justifies that you can attack any Muslim country at whim.”

He further remarked, “Modi is sort of Temu version of Netanyahu. It’s a little poor copy and we call upon the Indian government to not be inspired by the worst example possible.”