In a series of high-level engagements with members of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, former foreign minister and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari issued a stark warning regarding India’s increasingly aggressive posture and its potential to destabilize South Asia. He implored American lawmakers to lend their support to Pakistan’s “mission of peace” and actively facilitate dialogue to avert a full-scale conflict in the region.
Leading a prominent Pakistani delegation, Bilawal engaged in extensive discussions concerning the prevailing regional situation, the protracted Kashmir issue, and the broader scope of US-Pakistan relations. The Bilawal-led diplomatic contingent has conducted numerous meetings with various US lawmakers and held significant discussions with members of the US Congress on Capitol Hill, aiming to articulate Pakistan’s position and highlight New Delhi’s provocations and acts of aggression against Islamabad.
The parliamentary delegation includes notable figures such as Hina Rabbani Khar, Sherry Rehman, Dr. Musadik Malik, Khurram Dastgir Khan, Jalil Abbas Jilani, Tehmina Janjua, Bushra Anjum Butt, and Syed Faisal Subzwari. The delegation’s recent series of meetings with US lawmakers and diplomats are part of Pakistan’s broader diplomatic outreach initiative in the aftermath of the recent armed confrontation with India.
Last month, both nuclear-armed neighbors conducted cross-border attacks against each other following the Pahalgam incident—in which 26 tourists were killed in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK)—after which New Delhi launched airstrikes inside Pakistan, prompting Pakistan to retaliate via Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos. After at least 87 hours, the conflict between the two nuclear-armed nations concluded on May 10 with a ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States.
In the delegation’s most recent meetings, Bilawal briefed the US contingent, which included Congressmen Jack Bergman, Tom Suozzi, Ryan Zinke, Maxine Waters, Al Green, Jonathan Jackson, Hank Johnson, Stacey Plaskett, Brian Mast, Brad Sherman, Greggory Meeks, Henry Cuellar, and Senator Tom Cotton, on the specifics of Indian aggression.
A critical point of concern raised by the former foreign minister was India’s unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty. He unequivocally branded this move a “violation of international law,” asserting that “India is setting a dangerous precedent of using water resources as a weapon.” Bilawal cautioned, “The suggestion of shutting off water for 240 million Pakistanis is an existential threat. If India takes this step, it will be tantamount to a declaration of war.”
Furthermore, while acknowledging and appreciating the “positive role of the US in reducing tensions between Pakistan and India” and its efforts in securing the recent ceasefire, Bilawal emphasized that the ceasefire was “just a beginning.” He stressed, “South Asia, India and Pakistan, and indirectly the entire world, are more insecure today than when this crisis began.”
He further warned that “the threshold of full-scale war between Pakistan and India has never been so low in our history,” highlighting a perilous trend where “any incident of terrorism anywhere in India, whether proven or not, is considered to mean war.”
Underscoring the urgency of the situation, Bilawal informed US lawmakers that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had entrusted his delegation with a “mission of peace.” This mission, he explained, aims to “find solutions to problems through dialogue and diplomacy with India.” He urged American lawmakers to “continue their efforts to establish peace and stability in South Asia” and to “support us in this peace mission.”
“If America puts its strength behind peace, it can convince India that solving our problems is the right thing to do,” Bilawal asserted, emphasizing that “a solution to the Kashmir issue is in the interest of all of us.” He called upon the US to “facilitate meaningful and constructive dialogue between Pakistan and India” and to “prevent India from pursuing policies that will destabilize the region and the world.”
Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US, Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, concluded the meeting by extending his gratitude to the American lawmakers.
Separately, addressing a press conference, Senator Sherry Rehman, also a member of the Bilawal-led parliamentary delegation, stated that the recent 87-hour conflict was merely a trailer—a clear manifestation of Pakistan’s coordinated response. “This war was part of India’s strategy to keep the region in a Bollywood-style tension,” she remarked, adding that Indian media was promoting war sentiments by limiting the peace narrative.
Terming Pakistan’s military response to Indian aggression as legal and limited, Rehman warned that any misunderstanding or mistake between two nuclear powers could result in immediate disaster for millions. “A nuclear conflict in a densely populated and sensitive region like South Asia would be uncontrollable,” said Senator Rehman.
Expressing gratitude to the US for its intervention and mediation efforts to broker a ceasefire, Rehman cautioned that without a purposeful and principled negotiation process, this “trailer” could soon escalate into a global tragedy. “A solution to the Kashmir issue is possible in a serious and multilateral negotiation framework […] India neither recognizes multilateralism nor takes bilateral negotiations seriously and also refuses third-party mediation, which is necessary for any serious process,” she lamented.
