May 10, 2025

Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party and former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has firmly stated that while Pakistan does not seek war with India, it reserves the right to defend itself following India's recent aerial assault that reportedly killed civilians, including women and children.

In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera's Osama Bin Javaid, Bhutto Zardari, addressed the escalating tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.

"What choice does Pakistan have? Innocent civilians have been killed. Our sovereignty has been violated," Bhutto Zardari told Al Jazeera. "We've never pursued the path to conflict. But India is making it very difficult. And they're once again threatening the peace and stability in all of South Asia."

The interview comes after Pakistan reported that its air force shot down five Indian aircraft in what Pakistani officials described as a display of "courage, precision, and bravery." This followed what Pakistan has characterized as an unprovoked attack by India on Pakistani territory.

Bhutto Zardari categorically rejected India's assertions that it had targeted terrorist camps inside Pakistan, describing these claims as "a lie" manufactured "to justify the mass murder of Pakistani civilians."

"If there was indeed any such terrorist camp, then why did India reject Pakistan's proposal for an international, impartial investigation into the incident?" he questioned. "Why did they not wait for the international journalists who were in the process of visiting these alleged sites before attacking and targeting innocent civilians?"

The former foreign minister emphasized that Pakistan had no involvement in the April 22 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that prompted India's military response. He called for an international inquiry to establish the facts.

"Our hands are clean and we'd like to get to the bottom of this," said Bhutto Zardari. "They still to this day have been unable to name to us, to tell us or anybody else those who are involved in these attacks, despite Pakistan's calls for an international inquiry."

The former foreign minister called on the international community to intervene in what he described as a potential global crisis between two nuclear-armed nations.

"This is not just a bilateral issue. This is a global issue," he stressed. "They must intervene and ensure that India is held accountable for these actions, that sanity prevails in Delhi."

Bhutto Zardari proposed establishing an internationally accepted mechanism to investigate not only the current incident but also any future terrorist attacks in either country. Such a framework, he suggested, would "do justice with the victims rather than propelling two armed nuclear nations into war."