If ISI and RAW sit together, there could be a significant decrease in terrorist activities: Bilawal
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Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that if ISI and RAW sit together, there could be a significant decrease in terrorist activities in the region. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman addressed a press conference at the UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday.
"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.
Pakistan only ever acted in self defence. We never initiated any violence against India. On the first night when their planes attacked our country, Pakistan's military responded with precision. PAF only targeted and downed six planes because we believed those six planes were the… pic.twitter.com/oG6e8YWlfZ — PPP (@MediaCellPPP) June 3, 2025
He blamed India of 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 highlighted that subsequent missile strikes were exchanged between the two countries before a ceasefire was brokered, crediting the international community—particularly US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio—for facilitating the truce.
Bilawal warned that while the ceasefire is a welcome first step, the risk of full-scale conflict between two nuclear-armed neighbors remains dangerously high. 'The threshold for war has lowered, not risen,' he said, urging the global community to continue pursuing dialogue and diplomacy as the only viable path to lasting peace.
This story is being updated.
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