{"id":10043,"date":"2025-06-04T11:40:46","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T06:40:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/?p=10043"},"modified":"2025-06-04T11:40:48","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T06:40:48","slug":"bilawal-led-delegation-reaches-washington-after-wrapping-up-ny-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/asia\/bilawal-led-delegation-reaches-washington-after-wrapping-up-ny-visit\/","title":{"rendered":"Bilawal-led delegation reaches Washington after wrapping up NY visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The high-powered delegation, led by former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, has reached Washington after concluding its two-day visit<\/a> to the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pakis\u00adtan had launched<\/a> a broad-based engagement campaign in the United States to present its perspective on the recent spike in tensions with India, and counter New Delhi\u2019s growing lobbying presence here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The delegation comprises Senator Rehman, former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Dr Musadik Malik, Engineer Khurram Dastgir, Faisal Subzwari, Tehmina Janjua, Senator Bushra Anjum Butt and Jalil Abbas Jilani.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In New York, the delegation \u201cdrew attention to India\u2019s illegal use of force and violations of international law, including the UN Charter and International Humanitarian Law, particularly targeting of civilian areas and killing of innocent civilians, including women and children\u201d, according to a statement issued by the Foreign Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It added that the delegation rejected India\u2019s allegations regarding the April 22 attack<\/a> in India-occupied Kashmir \u201cwithout a shred of evidence, and warned against India\u2019s weaponisation of water through its unilateral hold on the IWT [Indus Waters Treaty] in violation of international law and treaty obligations\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the statement, the delegation met with the UN secretary-general, the president of the General Assembly, the president of the Security Council, the representatives of the Security Council\u2019s permanent and non-permanent members, ambassadors of the OIC Group, representatives of the media, civil society, and think tanks, and the Pakistani community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, the delegation highlighted the country\u2019s role and commitment to combating terrorism in all forms, while also \u201cdrawing attention of the international community towards Indian-sponsored terrorism in Pakistan, and its transnational assassination campaign\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCooperation, not politicisation, was required to effectively combat the menace of terrorism, it was underlined,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The delegation also emphasised the country\u2019s responsible and lawful response to Indian aggression and provocations, adding that Pakistan \u201cseeks peace but will always defend its sovereignty with resolve\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It warned that Indian attempts to create a \u201cnew normal\u201d that implied arbitrary and unilateral strikes could lead to disastrous consequences in South Asia\u2019s nuclear environment, reiterating that peace in the region hinged on a just and peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, in line with the UN Security Council resolutions and wishes of the Kashmiri people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe international community was urged to uphold international law and the sanctity of treaties, push for the revival and normal functioning of the Indus Waters Treaty, and support the initiation of a comprehensive dialogue to resolve all outstanding issues between India and Pakistan, including the core dispute of Jammu and Kashmir,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking at a press conference at UN Headquarters, Bilawal said coope\u00adration between Pakistan and India\u2019s intelligence agencies could significantly reduce terrorism in South Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI 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,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also urged the global community to remain engaged in South Asia, warning that the risk of conflict between nuclear-armed neighbours had grown, not diminished, after the recent ceasefire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith the intervention of the international community \u2014 and I would like to mention particularly the role played by the US President Donald Trump and his team led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio \u2014 we did manage to achieve a ceasefire between India and Pakistan,\u201d said Bilawal. \u201cThis is a welcome first step, but it\u2019s only a first step.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The high-powered delegation, led by former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, has reached Washington after concluding its two-day visit to the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Wednesday. Pakis\u00adtan had launched a broad-based engagement campaign in the United States to present its perspective on the recent spike in tensions with India, and counter New Delhi\u2019s growing lobbying presence here. […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":10044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,396,82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","category-latest","category-paksitan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10043"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}