Bilawal wants US to persuade New Delhi for Pakistan-India talks

WASHINGTON: Stressing the need for a peaceful South Asia, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Saturday urged the United States to play its role bring the Modi government to table for Pakistan-India talks.

In an interview to CBS, the former foreign minister again highlighted the fact that US President Donald Trump played an important role to ensure a ceasefire on May 10 to end the Pakistan-India war.

Reiterating Pakistan’s policy, he said Islamabad was committed to a sustainable peace in the region and hoped that India won’t sabotage the US efforts aimed at achieving the goal.

The latest statement came after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on several occasions expressed Pakistan’s desire for a comprehensive dialogue between the two nuclear powers.

However, India is adamant to avoid talks that cover all the subjects concerning the two countries. That’s why Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar earlier this week censured India for its attitude.

Read more: Pakistan open, ‘not desperate’ for talks with India: Dar

In this context, Bilawal had previous said India had hegemonic designs and believed in acting outside the international law, as he criticised New Delhi for its refusal to hold talks.

THE ONLY SOLUTION

On Saturday, Bilawal told CBS that all the issues could be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue.

However, he repeated the stance that any talks between Pakistan and India should cover all subjects – a reference to Kashmir, water, trade and terrorism.

The Kashmir dispute could not be ignored under any circumstances, said Bilawal who is leading a Pakistani delegation visiting the US to present Pakistan’s case to the global audience.

About the hurdles that hindering the efforts designed for normalising the relations among the South Asian nations, Bilawal said peace was a requisite to ensure peace in the region.

This statement brings us a depressing fact. South Asia is the one of the least integrated – and thus extremely volatile – regions in the world. It is despite the fact that Asia has two strong blocs – ASEAN and GCC.

In this scenario, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Islamabad has been advocating for comprehensive Pakistan-India talks.

INDUS WATERS TREATY

During the interview, Bilawal yet again reminded the world about India’s water aggression – a policy “showcased” through putting the Indus Waters Treaty into abeyance.

He said India was using water as a weapon. Stopping the water of any country was a clear violation of the UN Charter, the PPP chairman added.

In this regard, Bilawal asked the world community to deal with the water aggression, saying New Delhi’s threat to stop river water flow to Pakistan was act an aggression.

TERRORISM

Separately, Bilawal also addressed a press conference along with other members of the delegation, where he said India was involved in terrorism inside Pakistan,

To prove his point, the PPP chairman reminded the reporters about the arrest of Kulbhushan Jadhav – a serving navy officer – some years back, who was promoting terrorism in Pakistan through Indian proxies.

New Delhi is lying to both the world and domestic audience, he said in reference to the Pahalgam episode and the resultant developments.

In this respect, he said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was continuously maintaining an aggressive posture and added that no country could unilaterally suspend the Indus Waters Treaty.

On the other hand, Bilawal also mentioned that India had presented itself as the “sole net security provider” in South Asia and was receiving the US dollars under the pretext of the so-called status.