Addressing the National Assembly session, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said “If India wants peace, it should come forward with open hands and not clenched fists.” The statement comes amid escalating ties between India and Pakistan after Pahalgam attack.
Pakistan People’s Party chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Tuesday said that he was open to peace with India as he addressed the National Assembly session, where discussions took place on the regional security situation. The latest remarks come as a U-turn from a rather aggressive approach that Bilawal took following India’s decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty.
Bilawal said, “If India wants peace, it should come forward with open hands and not clenched fists.” He urged both India and Pakistan to work together and said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s “challenge to India for an impartial investigation is a start”.
He stressed that Pakistan would fight for freedom and not for conflict in the case of a war. “If they (India) do not (want peace)… then let them remember that the people of Pakistan are not made to kneel. The people of Pakistan have a resolve to fight, not because we love conflict, but because we love freedom,” he added.
“Let India decide. Will it be dialogue or destruction? Cooperation or confrontation?” Bilawal said.
He said that terrorism cannot be defeated by a tank alone. “It (terrorism) must be defeated with justice. It cannot be uprooted by bullets; it must be disarmed with hope. It cannot be defeated by demonising nations but by addressing the grievances that give it birth.”
Earlier, Bilawal had warned of bloodshed over the issue of water after India announced a raft of punitive measures against Pakistan, including suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, shutting down of the only operational land border crossing at Attari and downgrading of diplomatic ties following the terror attack.
(With inputs from PTI)