Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party and former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Thursday that Pakistan was ready to pursue peace with India, but insisted that every meaningful commitment should begin with New Delhi honoring previous agreements, especially the Indus Waters Treaty.
When he spoke at the Middle East Institute in Washington, Mr Bhutto-Zze-Zoni said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had put together a delegation with a clear mission: seeking peace through dialogue and diplomacy with India. “You might ask why we’re here in Washington and don’t speak to our opponent … They refuse to speak,” he said, pointing to India’s lasting unwillingness to engage.
The PPP chairman emphasized that although Pakistan is open to new events, appointments and even treaties with India, only progress can be made if India first honor its existing obligations. “If our dialogue and diplomacy in the pursuit of peace must be successful … they must certainly first comply with the old treaties and take their decision back, Viz-A-Viz Indus-Vand Treaty,” he said.
He criticized the Indian Government’s attitude towards dialogue and cooperation and noted that it had rejected Pakistan’s calls for joint investigations of terrorist acts, rejected former US President Donald Trump’s offer to communicate and continues to reject Pakistan’s overtures.
“India has been belligerent. They refused cooperation on terror – you saw it. Pakistan’s prime minister said, let’s have an investigation, they said no. They refuse mediation, they refuse dialogue,” the PPP chairman said.
He warned that such a refusal to participate in diplomacy would only escalate tension. “All that means is that there will be more terrorism that will be more war and there will be no peace.”
He added that although the Indian government may be willing to condemn its people to an eternal conflict, Pakistan would not follow. “I refuse to curse my people, and I refuse to connect India’s population to this fate.”
Bilawal said this is the reason why the Pakistani delegation would continue to raise “from capital to capital” with a simple and urgent message: “We want peace and we need your help.”
