Former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has rejected attempts by Indian media to link Pakistan with terrorism, saying India had initiated a war on what he described as a false premise and suffered a major setback.
Bilawal made the remarks on social media platform X while commenting on an interview given by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to an Indian television channel.
During an interview with NDTV, Ibrahim, who was in India to attend the BRICS summit, was asked whether Israel’s actions against Hamas amounted to terrorism.
“Yes, it is terrorism,” the Malaysian prime minister replied.
The interviewer then asked whether, by the same reasoning, Pakistan’s actions against India and the Pahalgam incident should also be considered terrorism.
Ibrahim declined to make such a conclusion, saying the matter was sensitive and needed to be established through evidence.
“I know it is very sensitive to say that in India. I’m a close friend of Modi ji, and we engage with the Pakistanis,” he said.
Asked why he was not equally direct in criticising Pakistan over alleged terrorism, Ibrahim said the allegations needed to be verified.
He said Malaysia’s intelligence agencies had not provided him with information establishing that Pakistan was involved in state-sponsored terrorism.
Commenting on the interview, Bilawal said the Malaysian prime minister had exposed what he called Indian propaganda while speaking on Indian television.
“The truth is India started a war based on a lie and lost miserably,” Bilawal said, adding that India had been “exposed internationally”.
He urged New Delhi to honour commitments made under the ceasefire agreement and engage with Pakistan on outstanding disputes.
Bilawal said dialogue between the two countries could help promote peace, prosperity and stability in the region.
Tensions between Pakistan and India escalated following the April 2025 attack on tourists in Pahalgam, held in Indian-administered Kashmir. India linked the incident to Pakistan, a charge Islamabad rejected and called for a neutral investigation.
India subsequently carried out air strikes in Punjab and Azad Kashmir on May 7. Pakistan responded with military action and said it had shot down several Indian aircraft. Both sides exchanged strikes on military installations before agreeing to a ceasefire on May 10 following US diplomatic intervention.
Pakistan has repeatedly rejected Indian allegations connecting it to the Pahalgam attack and accused New Delhi of promoting what it described as a false narrative during a broader regional crisis.
