Bilawal Bhutto: ‘Peace with dignity, not submission’: Bilawal Bhutto issues new warning to India over Indus Waters Treaty
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari issues new warning to India over Indian behavior Indus Waters Treaty Clash with India after April 22 Pahalgam attack. India was using the river as a “weapon”, he said, adding that it was Pakistan’s “lifeline” and people living along these rivers wanted “peace with dignity” and not “submission”. ANI quoted Bhutto as saying: “Pakistan must make its stance clear. The Indus is not a pressure point. The Indus is not a bargaining chip. The Indus is not a weapon placed in the hands of India. The Indus is Pakistan’s lifeline. Any attempt to turn this lifeline into a noose must be seen as a threat to the existence of our country. This is the message Pakistan must convey to India.”“India has failed to live up to its commitments and using water as a weapon is dangerous,” he added.“We want peace, but peace with dignity. We want dialogue, but dialogue under the law. We want coexistence, not submission. So from this seminar, from this city, from this moment, we want to send a message. Pakistan will defend its water, its people, its treaties, its sovereignty and its future,” he said.A day earlier, Pakistan’s climate change minister Musadiq Malik warned of “cutting off those who try to touch our water”.Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Talal further said, “There is a tap controlled by the prime minister of a neighboring country. He says he will not let a drop of water flow into Pakistan.”The Pakistani leader’s comments came after India suspended a 1960 water-sharing agreement after a Pakistan-linked terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, killed 26 civilians. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said last year that “blood and water do not mix” and claimed that the treaty would be put on hold until Islamabad takes credible and verifiable action against terrorist groups operating on its soil.
