‘Nuclear water war’: Bilawal Bhutto is wrong on Kashmir, Pahalgam, nuke escalation, but he's only sticking to army script

Pakistan's former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari was dispatched to the US by the establishment to fight the diplomatic battle against India in the wake of Operation Sindoor, the Indian armed forces' military response to the Pahalgam terror attack.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman, in interviews to global media, public speeches and social media posts this week, repeated the familiar script of the South Asian nation in dodging the real issue of cross-border terrorism fomented by Islamabad against India. He also repeated the government line of demanding a so-called ‘joint investigation’ into the Pahalgam attack, seeking evidence for Pakistan's involvement.

‘Nuclear escalation ladder’: Bilawal repeats Pakistan's nuclear blackmail

Most importantly, Bilawal raised the nuclear blackmail that Indian PM Narendra Modi had warned Pakistan to desist from.

In an interview laden with falsehoods, Bilawal told Bloomberg TV that India’s use of ‘a supersonic nuclear-capable missile’ made the situation more precarious. He was basically raising the bogey of a nuclear war between India and Pakistan, whereas the Indian military leadership had clearly stated that Operation Sindoor was a conventional operation.

“We have about 30 seconds time to decide, off a grainy little image, this nuclear-capable missile — is it armed with a nuclear weapon? And how do we respond?,” Bilawal told Bloomberg TV.

He claimed that India 'lowered the threshold' for future military confrontations. He said the two countries would climb the 'escalation ladder' too quickly for world leaders to intervene.

“Our concern for next time, heaven forbid, for next time round is that the threshold is low for a military conflict,” said Bilawal, who led a delegation to the US as part of Pakistan's diplomatic efforts to apprise the international community of the India-Pakistan military confrontation.

Raising the bogey of ‘nuclear water war’

Bilawal, who had said in May that 'either water of the Sindhu river or Indians' blood' will flow in the wake of India keeping the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, even used a new term in his US speeches: 'nuclear water war.'

He said that India's diplomatic move in the wake of Pahalgam attack laid the ‘foundation for first nuclear water war.’

‘Show us the proof’ alibi on Pahalgam terror attack

Bilawal repeated Pakistan's irresponsible attitude toward terrorism in the context of Pahalgam attack, raising the usual Pakistani rhetoric of 'show us the proof'.

“You just need an accusation, and you launch into a full-blown war with Pakistan,” he said, claiming that India did not provide any evidence of the attack of April 22 in which 26 people, mostly Indian Hindu tourists, were killed by Pakistan-trained terrorists.

“The new sort of normal — or we call it an abnormal — that the Modi government is trying to impose on the region is that if there’s a terrorist attack anywhere in India...you don’t have to provide a shred of evidence.”

His reference appears to be on Narendra Modi's pledge to attack terror camps in Pakistan in case of any future attacks on India, which the Indian prime minister called the new normal.

Kashmir, not terror, is ‘root cause’ for him

Bilawal, in his speaking engagements in the US, raised the Kashmir bogey as usual, calling it the ‘root cause’, not terrorism emanating from Pakistan.

"If India is serious about combating terrorism, then they have to create more conducive environment" in Kashmir, he said while speaking at the Middle East Institute.

Raising the joint probe demand on terrorist incidents

Bilawal also adhered to Pakistan's ploy of internationalising bilateral issues, by repeating the government's stance on joint probe into Pahalgam attack.

He alleged, without proof, that India is involved in attacks in Pakistan, while speaking to China's state-run CCTV.

He insisted that 'all attacks in India and Pakistan' should be probed by a joint forum, without specifying who should be in the forum.

Seeking to internationalise bilateral issues

In his engagemetns in the US, Bilawal made efforts to further internationalise the bilateral tensions between India and Pakistan, praising US President Donald Trump as well as the UN secertary general for helping de-escalate tensions.

“Appreciated the critical peacemaker role played by President Donald Trump in facilitating the ceasefire understanding, intended as a pathway to broader, sustained peace and dialogue,” he wrote on X.