 "Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), speaks during the launch of the Awami Muashi Muahida (public economic manifesto) in Larkana, Pakistan, January 16, 2024. (Photo: Reuters)")
Former Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that “it’s not a secret” that Pakistan has sheltered terrorists.
The remarks by Bilawal, a key coalition partner of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, comes days after Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif admitted to supporting terrorists at the behest of the United States in an interview.
The remarks by Asif and Bilawal come at a time when Pakistan is under renewed scrutiny over state-sponsored terrorists in the wake of the attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam in which 26 people were killed. India has blamed Pakistan for sponsoring the attack.
In an interview with Sky News that aired on Thursday, Bhutto said that Pakistan has also suffered from terrorism that it has supported.
“As far as what the defence minister said, I don’t think it’s a secret that Pakistan has a past as far as extremist groups are concerned. As a result of this, we have suffered — Pakistan has suffered. We have gone through waves after waves of extremism. We went through the militarisation of our society,” said Bilawal.
Days after the Pahalgam attack, Asif had similar admitted to sheltering terrorists. In an interview with Sky News, he had said that Pakistan had been doing the “dirty work” involving terrorists for decades.
“Well, we have been doing this dirty work for the United States and West, including Britain, for three decades,” said Asif when asked how Pakistan supported had terrorist organisations in the past.
However, like Bilawal, Asif also painted Pakistan as a victim of terrorism and said supporting terrorism has been a “mistake”.
Regarding the Pahalgam attack, Bilawal said that “it would be helpful if India were to provide specific concrete evidence” to Pakistan and the international community.
A group going by The Resistance Front (TRF), which is seen as a cover for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed responsibility for the attack. The LeT is based in Pakistan and has long been supported by the Pakistani regime.