PPP seeks global intervention to resolve Kashmir dispute
ISLAMABAD: As Pakistan and India pulled back from the brink of a war over the Pahalgam attack in the India-occupied Kashmir, PPP leadership urged the global community to play its role in the resolution of the Kashmir issue as well as the restoration of the Indus Waters Treaty, suspended by New Delhi after the attack.
PPP leaders Nayyar Bukhari, Sherry Rehman and Nadeem Afzal Chan addressed a joint press conference on Tuesday.
“As the world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, have played an important role in averting the war between Pakistan and India, the international community must play its role for the permanent settlement of the Kashmir dispute between the two nuclear states,” said Mr Bukhari.
Ms Rehman, the PPP vice president, said her party would observe ‘Day of Gratitude’ on May 15 to mark ‘Operation Bunyanum Marsoos’ launched by Pakistan armed forces to target Indian military installations in response to its multiple attacks in Pakistan.
“Firstly, we want to congratulate the entire nation. We bow our heads in gratitude for the resilience, unity, and courage shown by our people and the armed forces,” she said.
Sherry says peace to remain elusive if dispute is not settled
She stressed that Kashmir remained the unresolved core of regional instability. “India’s illegal occupation, demographic engineering, and refusal to engage with Kashmiri voices is the root cause of this crisis — and future ones. Without resolving Kashmir, peace will remain elusive,” she added.
She also cautioned against India’s growing pattern of diplomatic belligerence — expelling Pakistani diplomats, cutting off bilateral trade, and weaponising water under the Indus Waters Treaty.
“This is not just a military posture — it’s a full-spectrum campaign to isolate Pakistan and coerce regional outcomes, especially on Kashmir,” she said.
Senator Rehman also acknowledged the crucial role of international diplomacy.
“The US, Saudi Arabia, and Turkiye, played constructive roles in brokering the ceasefire. But make no mistake — it was Pakistan’s calibrated, fact-based response that created room for diplomacy,” she said.
The PPP leader also lauded Pakistan’s media for “practising restraint and ethics amid a media war”.
In contrast, she said, “Indian media devolved into propaganda machines while censorship took hold back home. Their people were betrayed by fiction, not facts.”
She also condemned the use of the Pahalgam incident by India as a pretext for war.
“The world must note that the attack was never independently investigated. India rejected neutral probes just as it did in the Samjhauta Express case. What is India hiding?”
PPP Information Secretary Nadeem Afzal Chan said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speech on Monday had twisted facts in the war between Pakistan and India. “His (Modi’s) speech seemed to be a speech delivered by a loser,” he added.
Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2025
