PPP Senator Sherry Rehman on Tuesday termed India a “belligerent power spinning out of control” as she responded to remarks by the latter’s Minister for External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on allegations of terrorism.
Pakistan and India have been at odds since a deadly attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22. New Delhi, without any evidence, blamed Islamabad for the attack, while Pakistan strongly denied the claims and offered a neutral probe. The two nations then fought a four-day conflict before the US brokered a ceasefire on May 10.
Speaking in Brussels earlier today, Jaishankar said when India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that “Operation Sindoor” was not over, it was a clear message that “we reserve the right to go after terrorists anytime, anywhere if they have done harm to us”.
Responding to the statement, Senator Rehman said on X: “Sorry, but these threats only suggest a belligerent power spinning out of control.”
The senator, who is also part of a high-level delegation presenting Pakistan’s stance to major world powers, stated: “This beating of the terrorism drum has become a caricature of a country now unable to contain its own political crises.
“Pakistan cannot be responsible for every attack in India, which is home to a dozen insurgencies,” she said, adding that “no lessons seem to have been learnt from the encounter with Pakistan, and no evidence provided”.
Similarly, former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar — also part of the delegation — said that India had learned “no lesson from its recent illegal aggression, bursting of its conventional supremacy myth, downing of its jets and its credibility”.
On the other hand, she noted, Pakistan continued to “celebrate [the] ceasefire and seek lasting peace that can allow South Asia to breathe and prosper”.
Earlier this month, Pakistan launched a broad-based engagement campaign to present its perspective on the recent conflict with India to the world and counter New Delhi’s unproven allegations. As part of its global outreach, the team has visited the United States, is currently in London, and will also head to Brussels.
Besiders Khar and Rehman, the delegation comprises former foreign ministers Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, and Khurram Dastgir; Senators Musadik Malik, Faisal Subzwari and Bushra Anjum Butt; along with senior envoys Jalil Abbas Jilani and Tehmina Janjua.
On its part, India’s all-party delegations have also visited its key partner countries, including the United States.
