PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said India “started a war based on a lie and lost miserably” (Express Tribune).
“India now stands exposed internationally,” he said, urging India to honour its ceasefire commitments and address outstanding issues with Pakistan.
What prompted it
An NDTV interview in New Delhi in which Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim declined to characterise Pakistan’s alleged involvement in terrorism as state-sponsored. Pressed by the journalist Vishnu Som, Anwar said intelligence officials had not confirmed state sponsorship and that allegations “first had to be established”.
The conflict being referred to
| | | |—|—| | 22 April 2025 | attack at Pahalgam, Indian-administered Kashmir — 26 killed | | | India blames Pakistan; Pakistan denies involvement | | | India suspends the Indus Waters Treaty, closes borders | | May 2025 | Indian missile strikes; Pakistani military response | | 10 May 2025 | US-brokered ceasefire |
What the Malaysian remark does and does not establish
It establishes that one foreign leader declined, on Indian television, to endorse India’s characterisation. That is a diplomatic datum and it is why it was seized on here.
It does not establish that no attribution exists, and a prime minister saying his own intelligence services have not confirmed something is a statement about his briefings rather than about the facts. Pakistan’s case does not become proven because a third party declines to call it disproven.
Nothing in the public record has resolved responsibility for Pahalgam, which is why both governments are still arguing about it seventeen months later.
What is not established
India had not responded to Bilawal’s remarks at the time of writing. No independent investigation into the Pahalgam attack has published findings, and the status of the Indus Waters Treaty suspension has not been reported as changed.
[Image: AFP via The Express Tribune]
