India Source of Insecurity in South Asia, Not Stability: Bilawal

News Desk 

Washington: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has strongly criticised India’s regional posture, calling its claim of being a “net security provider” a façade exposed by the recent five-day military standoff between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

Speaking at a luncheon hosted by Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Rizwan Saeed, Bilawal accused India of triggering conflict based on falsehoods and acting as a source of insecurity in South Asia and beyond.

“They started a war based on a lie — and couldn’t even win it,” the former foreign minister said, adding that India’s actions had dangerously lowered the threshold for armed confrontation in the region.

Bilawal is currently leading a nine-member high-level multiparty parliamentary delegation to the United States. The visit aims to counter New Delhi’s narrative surrounding the April 22 attack in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), which killed 26 civilians. India blamed Pakistan for orchestrating the incident — a claim Islamabad has strongly denied.

The Pakistani delegation, comprising senior lawmakers and diplomats including Hina Rabbani Khar, Sherry Rehman, Dr Musadik Malik, Khurram Dastgir Khan, Jalil Abbas Jilani, Tehmina Janjua, Bushra Anjum Butt, and Syed Faisal Subzwari, has held multiple meetings with US lawmakers on Capitol Hill to highlight what they described as India’s provocations and aggression.

Bilawal said the recent conflict laid bare India’s reliance on disinformation and fake news, particularly through its media, to mislead both domestic and international audiences.

“Three parties are making claims — Pakistan, the US, and India. Two are aligned. One is not. It’s about identifying who’s telling the truth,” he remarked, noting that India has yet to produce credible evidence about the IIOJK attack, the alleged perpetrators, or its own military losses.

He also criticised the use of US taxpayer money to subsidise India’s defence build-up under the assumption that it ensures regional stability. “These five days proved otherwise,” Bilawal asserted.

Citing a tweet from US Senator Marco Rubio, he said it revealed three key developments: a ceasefire, agreement on future talks in a neutral location, and a broad agenda for dialogue — all of which, Bilawal argued, show that the global community does not fully endorse India’s stance.

He stressed that Pakistan’s response to Indian aggression was conventional, not nuclear, reinforcing Islamabad’s commitment to responsible state behaviour.

The PPP chairman also condemned Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s incendiary rhetoric — including the remark “Eat bread or eat my bullet” — which, he said, undermines any prospects for peace.

Addressing extremism, Bilawal called for a depoliticised and unified approach to combatting terrorism, rejecting the association of terrorism with any one religion or nationality. “Extremism knows no borders and must be universally condemned,” he said.

He warned of the growing influence of Hindutva ideology in India, blaming the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) — the ideological backbone of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — for fostering intolerance and violence.

“From the Gujarat riots to the Samjhauta Express attack, those responsible have never been held accountable. In many cases, they’ve been pardoned,” he noted.

Bilawal concluded by calling for an end to the blame game and urged both India and Pakistan to resume dialogue and work towards regional peace and stability.

“Instead of finger-pointing and feeding the cycle of hostility, we must strive for dialogue. That is the only way forward,” he said.