Bilawal says India ‘lost miserably’ after war built on Pahalgam narrative

Bilawal made the remarks on Monday while reacting to an interview given by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to Indian television

ISLAMABAD: PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has accused India of launching last year’s military confrontation with Pakistan on the basis of what he described as a false narrative, saying New Delhi had now been exposed internationally.

Bilawal made the remarks on Monday while reacting to an interview given by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to Indian television channel NDTV.

During the interview, Ibrahim was asked whether Pakistan’s alleged involvement in the Pahalgam attack should also be described as terrorism. The Malaysian premier declined to make such a determination, stressing that responsibility would first have to be established through credible evidence and intelligence.

Ibrahim said that Malaysia’s intelligence authorities had not provided him with evidence establishing state-sponsored terrorism by Pakistan. He therefore said he could not make such an assertion as Malaysia’s prime minister.

Sharing a clip of the interview on social media platform X, Bilawal said the Malaysian premier had effectively exposed what he called Indian propaganda while appearing on Indian television.

“The truth is India started a war based on a lie and lost miserably,” Bilawal said, referring to the four-day military confrontation between the two nuclear-armed neighbours in May 2025.

He added that India was now “exposed internationally” and called on New Delhi to honour the commitments made at the time of the ceasefire.

Bilawal urged both countries to address their outstanding areas of friction through dialogue, saying sustained engagement was necessary to promote peace, prosperity and stability in the region.

The May 2025 confrontation followed the April 2025 attack on tourists in Pahalgam in occupied Kashmir. India linked the attack to Pakistan, a charge Islamabad rejected and called for an impartial investigation into the incident.

India subsequently launched air strikes inside Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir on May 7. Pakistan responded with military action and claimed to have shot down several Indian aircraft. The confrontation continued with reciprocal strikes before a ceasefire was reached on May 10 following diplomatic intervention by the United States.

Pakistan has continued to reject Indian allegations connecting Islamabad to the Pahalgam incident. On the attack’s first anniversary in April this year, Islamabad again criticised what it described as an effort to promote an unsubstantiated narrative against Pakistan amid wider regional tensions.

Bilawal’s latest comments come as Pakistan continues to call for dialogue with India and the implementation of understandings reached after the May 2025 ceasefire.