Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman and former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has called for intelligence collaboration between India and Pakistan, stating that such a move could significantly reduce terrorism across South Asia.
Addressing a press conference at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Tuesday, Bhutto-Zardari said, “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.” His remarks were reported by Dawn on Wednesday.
The PPP leader is currently heading a senior-level Pakistani delegation to the United States, seeking international support following the recent escalation of hostilities between India and Pakistan.
Referring to the fragile ceasefire currently in place, he warned that the risk of a renewed confrontation between the nuclear-armed neighbours remains high. “With the intervention of the international community — and I would like to mention particularly the role played by the US President Donald Trump and his team led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio — we did manage to achieve a ceasefire between India and Pakistan. This is a welcome first step, but it’s only a first step,” he said.
Tensions have been running high since the 22 April Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people. India responded with precision strikes on terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on 7 May, followed by Pakistani attempts to strike Indian military targets on 8, 9, and 10 May. These exchanges ceased following military-level talks on 10 May between the Directors General of Military Operations of both countries.
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Bhutto-Zardari maintained that diplomacy and dialogue remain the “only viable path to peace”, reiterating Pakistan’s willingness to engage in broad-based discussions with India, including cooperation on counterterrorism. “Pakistan would still like to cooperate with India to combat terrorism. We can’t leave the fate of 1.5 billion, 1.7 billion people in the hands of non-state actors and terrorists... For them to decide, at a whim, that (when these) two nuclear-armed powers will go to war,” he said.
Criticising what he termed as India’s habit of linking any terror incident to the possibility of war with Pakistan, he said, “You can’t have no dispute resolution mechanisms between two nuclear-armed countries.” He proposed the establishment of a joint platform for addressing grievances, investigating terror incidents, and ensuring mutual accountability.
Bhutto-Zardari also reiterated Pakistan’s objections to India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in the wake of the Pahalgam attack, labelling it an attempt to “weaponise water.”
“The mere threat to cut off the water supply of 200 million people is a violation of the UN Charter. Acting on this threat will be seen as an act of war by Pakistan,” he said.
The PPP leader and his delegation earlier held meetings with UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the President of the UN Security Council, Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett of Guyana, according to Dawn.
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