The high-level delegation tasked with presenting Pakistan’s position on the ongoing dispute with India has scheduled to meet on June 2, PPP Senator Sherry Rehman said on Wednesday.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif decided to send a diplomatic delegation to important world capitals in the aftermath of the recent military escalation with India. He entrusted the PPP Chairman and former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to lead the delegation.
The delegation comprises Senator Rehman, former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Dr Musadik Malik, Engineer Khurram Dastgir, Faisal Subzwari, Tehmina Janjua, Senator Bushra Anjum Butt and Jalil Abbas Jilani.
Speaking on DawnNewsTV programme ‘Doosra Rukh’, Senator Rehman said that the diplomatic committee had decided to visit various countries before Eidul Azha.
“The committee, headed by Bilawal, will begin its tour of various countries on June 2, starting from New York,” she said.
She added, “The committee will first go to New York, then Washington, followed by London, and then Brussels.”
Rehman further said that Bilawal had emphasised that there was no hurry as Pakistan “is not concerned with the Indian delegation.”
“Bilawal has said that we have our own stance and that we have enough content for our defence,” she said, adding that the PPP chairman wanted a “substantive [and] quality meeting”.
Speaking about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent remarks regarding the Indus Water Treaty, saying “No politician, especially a PM, says things like that.”
She added that Modi wanted the region to remain in “crisis” to prevent any space for negotiations.
In a separate interview with the Saudi television network Al-Arabiya, the senator warned that stability in a volatile region is not possible with Modi’s escalatory rhetoric.
“He is pushing the region toward a dangerous new abnormal, which cannot possibly be acceptable to anyone,” Senator Rehman said. “Nothing is normal or rational about this doctrinal shift in India’s foreign policy.”
She highlighted that India was also mining more groundwater than any other country in the world, especially from the Indus River Basin, while trying to cut off what they can of Pakistan’s water lifeline, stating that this is “totally unsustainable or acceptable in today’s climate-stressed world”.
The developments follow a recent military confrontation between India and Pakistan over New Delhi’s allegations against Islamabad’s alleged involvement in a deadly attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam — an allegation for which it provided no evidence.
New Delhi launched a series of air strikes in Pakistan, resulting in civilian casualties. Islamabad responded by downing five Indian jets. It took American intervention on May 10 for both sides to finally drop their guns as a ceasefire was reached.