On the same day that the Indian all-party delegation, led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, arrived in Washington, DC, as part of the global outreach on Operation Sindoor, Pakistan’s copycat delegation, led by Bilawal Bhutto, was in New York to push its case.
Bhutto, who served as the Foreign Minister earlier, addressed a briefing at the UN Headquarters in New York and sought reconciliation with India, making a plea for talks and Intel sharing between the two neighbours. The Pakistani side has suffered great losses after it attempted to target Indian defence and civil installations in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor.
As per an ongoing analysis of the damage inflicted upon by the Indian Air Force on Pakistan Air Force, it is emerging that 6 PAF fighter jets, two high-value aircraft, over 10 UCAVs, one C-130 transport aircraft, along with multiple cruise missiles, were destroyed by Indian air-launched cruise missiles and surface-to-air missiles. Now, Bhutto wants to return to diplomacy and dialogue, emphasising that it is the only viable path to peace.
“Pakistan would still like to cooperate with India to combat terrorism. We can’t leave the fate of 1.5 billion, 1.7 billion people in the hands of non-state actors and terrorists,” he said.
“For them to decide, at a whim, that (when these) two nuclear-armed powers will go to war.” This statement, in effect, gives credence to India’s stand that terror operatives based in Pakistan had planned the Pahalgam attack that saw the killing of 26 innocent people.
India has also publicly stated that any further terrorist activity would warrant similar action. But Bhutto stressed the need for a dispute resolution mechanism. You can’t have any dispute resolution mechanisms between two nuclear-armed countries,” he said.
Ironically, Bhutto also suggested cooperation between Pakistan and India’s intelligence agencies to take on terrorism in South Asia. “I am completely confident that if ISI and RAW were ready to sit down and work together to fight these forces, we would see a significant decrease in terrorism in both India and Pakistan,” he said.
Bhutto’s placatory stance reveals the profound impact of the strikes carried out during Operation Sindoor on Pakistan and its urgent need to seek peace under these circumstances.
