PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Monday criticised attempts by Indian media to link Pakistan with terrorism, claiming that India had “started a war based on a lie and lost miserably” during last year’s military confrontation between the two countries.
Bilawal made the remarks on X while responding to an interview given by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to Indian television channel NDTV during his visit to India for the BRICS summit.
During the interview, Anwar was asked whether he regarded Israel’s actions against Hamas as terrorism. After he answered in the affirmative, the interviewer asked whether the same description should apply to Pakistan’s alleged actions against India, including the Pahalgam attack.
The Malaysian prime minister declined to make that comparison. While acknowledging the sensitivity of the issue in India and noting his close relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as Malaysia’s engagement with Pakistan, Anwar said such allegations first needed to be established.
Asked why he was not equally direct in accusing Pakistan of terrorism, Anwar said Malaysian intelligence agencies had not provided him with evidence establishing that Pakistan was involved in state-sponsored terrorism. He said that, as prime minister, he could only take a position on the basis of established facts.
Reacting to the interview, Bilawal said the Malaysian prime minister had exposed what he described as Indian propaganda while speaking in India on an Indian television channel.
Bilawal further claimed that India had launched last year’s conflict on the basis of a false allegation and had subsequently been exposed internationally.
He called on New Delhi to fulfil what he described as commitments made at the time of the ceasefire and engage Pakistan in discussions over outstanding points of friction. Such dialogue, he said, could help promote peace, stability and prosperity across the region.
The four-day Pakistan-India military confrontation in May 2025 followed an attack on tourists in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir. India blamed Pakistan for involvement in the attack, while Islamabad denied responsibility and called for an independent and transparent investigation.
The confrontation escalated on May 7 when India launched air strikes in Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan subsequently claimed to have shot down several Indian aircraft during aerial combat. The two countries later exchanged strikes against military targets before agreeing to a ceasefire on May 10 following international diplomatic efforts.
Pakistan has continued to reject Indian allegations linking it to the Pahalgam attack. In April, on the first anniversary of the incident, Islamabad again dismissed the accusations and alleged that New Delhi was attempting to reinforce what Pakistan described as a false narrative against it.
