'Let us sit as neighbours': Pakistan's Bilawal Bhutto softens tone after Indus threat

Days after empty rhetoric that threatened bloodshed if India stopped the Indus waters, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has struck a more conciliatory note, saying Pakistan seeks peace, not conflict.

Speaking in Pakistan’s National Assembly on Tuesday, Bhutto said Pakistan is a victim of terrorism and does not export it, ANI news agency reported quoting Dawn.

“If India wishes to walk the path of peace, let them come with open hands and not clenched fists. Let them come with facts and not fabrication. Let us sit as neighbours and speak the truth,” Bhutto said.

His remarks mark a stark departure from his earlier outburst in Sukkur, where he lashed out at India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Pahalgam terror attack. At that time, Bhutto had accused PM Modi of making false allegations and said India had no right to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty.

Standing by the Indus River, he had said, “The Indus is ours and will remain ours. Either water will flow in this Indus, or their blood will.”

The April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, which claimed 26 lives, mostly tourists, was carried out by Pakistan-backed terrorists, triggering one of the most serious spikes in India-Pakistan tensions in recent years.