KARACHI: The head of an official delegation visiting world capitals to present Islamabadâs position following a recent military standoff with New Delhi on Wednesday accused Indian external affairs minister S. Jaishankar of behaving like a âwarmonger, not a diplomatâ but said Pakistan would not be baited into âwar theatrics.â
Speaking at a press conference in London, former Pakistani foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is heading the high-level delegation lobbying Western governments, rejected what he called ârecycled allegationsâ from New Delhi about Islamabadâs role in cross-border terrorism and warned that Indiaâs threats to stop Pakistanâs flow of river water could escalate into an open conflict.
Speaking in Brussels on Tuesday, the Indian foreign minister had warned the West that Pakistan-sponsored terrorism would âeventually come back to haunt you.â
âMr. Jaishankar speaks like a warmonger and not a diplomat. If he believes that threatening nuclear war is diplomacy, then Indiaâs problem isnât Pakistan, itâs extremism inside its own cabinet,â Bhutto Zardari said. âThreatening missile strikes and boasting about escalation is not a display of strength. Itâs a dangerous sign of regional instability.â
He also mocked Indiaâs claim that Pakistan was behind a April 22 militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that triggered a four-day military confrontation in May. Pakistan has denied the accusations and demanded India present evidence.
âIf Jaishankar is so enamored by Google images, I suggest he Google Abhinandan Chaiwala,â he said, referring to a 2019 dogfight after which Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman was captured and then released by Pakistan.
âIndia knows that Pakistan had nothing to do with this attack. This was indigenous terrorism within Indian-occupied Kashmir, a secure intelligence failure of the Indian government,â he added.
On water, Bhutto Zardari issued a stern warning against what Islamabad described as Indiaâs âweaponizationâ of shared rivers under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, brokered by the World Bank.
After the April 22 attack, India had announced it was unilaterally terminating the treaty and would halt Pakistanâs waters. The agreement had long been considered a rare pillar of cooperation between the two sides.
âIf India actually carries out this threat, then Pakistan has already said that this declaration will be a war,â Bhutto Zardari said.
âIf we want to create an environment for dialogue, where we can talk about the issue of Kashmir or any other issue, then it is very important to follow the old treaties.â
DIPLOMATIC BLITZ
Pakistan and India have launched competing diplomatic offensives across major capitals weeks after their worst military escalation in decades in which the two nuclear-armed nations exchanged missile, drone, and artillery fire until the United States and other allies brokered a ceasefire on May 10.
Bhutto Zardariâs delegation is currently in London after visiting the United States and is scheduled to travel onwards to Brussels. Indian opposition MP and former UN under-secretary Shashi Tharoor is leading a parallel outreach effort for New Delhi, presenting Indiaâs case that Kashmir is a domestic matter and accusing Pakistan of supporting terrorism â a charge Islamabad denies.
Earlier in London, Bhutto Zardari met with senior British diplomats and UK-based Kashmiri leaders, and accused India of violating international agreements, including the Indus Waters Treaty.
âThe Jammu & Kashmir dispute remains the unfinished agenda of the United Nations and the unhealed wound of Partition,â he wrote in a post on X. âIn all my interactions, Kashmir was central â its peopleâs inalienable right to self-determination under UNSC resolutions must be upheld.â
He also met with Christian Turner, former British High Commissioner to Pakistan and incoming UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
âWelcomed the UKâs emphasis on diplomacy and dialogue, and encouraged its continued, constructive role in supporting de-escalation and encouraging dialogue for resolution of the Jammu & Kashmir dispute, the unfinished agenda of Partition and British legacy,â Bhutto Zardari said after the meeting.
As both governments build their respective cases ahead of a high-level UN session on South Asia later this month, Pakistan has framed its position as one of restraint and diplomacy.
âWe want peace, stability, and regional integration,â Bhutto Zardari said at the London press meet.
âPakistan wonât be baited into war theatrics. We will defend ourselves if attacked, but we do not crave conflict.â