• Source:JND
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Acting under pressure, Pakistan's former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Saturday offered to arrange a talk between the government and the Pakistani military establishment-- thus exposing his own government's failure and highlighting how Islamabad is being run by Army Chief Asim Munir.

Addressing a press conference in Washington after wrapping up engagements with US lawmakers and think tanks, Bhutto said Pakistan’s civil and military leadership were all on the same page "against terrorism" and believed that it was in the region’s interest to establish with India. However, he did not mention how Islamabad had repeatedly backstabbed whenever New Delhi initiated talks.

India and Pakistan should engage in a dialogue: Bhutto

"I believe the true path forward is for India and Pakistan to engage in a dialogue to establish peace. Whatever excuse you want to make sometimes, it’s this civil-military excuse, sometimes it’s this geopolitical excuse, sometimes it’s this ‘Oh all Muslims are terrorist excuse so we’re not going to talk to Pakistan’, it’s getting [tiresome]," he claimed. "You can’t be two nuclear-armed neighbours with a conflict threshold so low and absolutely no dispute resolution mechanism," he added.

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India rejects US mediation offer: Bhutto

Bilawal said India did not want mediation from the US or the United Nations or any interactional actor and did not even want to engage directly with Pakistan. Notably, India has made clear multiple times that the issue between New Delhi and Islamabad is purely "bilateral" and no country should interfere in the matter. On the other hand, Pakistan has been seeking US administration help to sort out the issue. “It’s in all our interest to convince India to undo the decision that doesn’t serve their purposes and come to the table and talk," Dawn quoted Bhutto as saying during the presser in the US.

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Bilawal said the recent ceasefire between the two countries was only the first step. “For durable peace in South Asia, we need to have a comprehensive dialogue with our neighbour where we address all our friction points. Indeed, when Pakistan agreed to the ceasefire, we did so on the condition that going forward, there would be a dialogue in a neutral location on all friction points. “And we’re very confident that that is the only way forward, not only for Pakistan, but also for India. While we’re very grateful for the ceasefire, we’re cognizant of the fact that we are all, Pakistan and India, but our region and the globe, by extension, a less safe place today than we were when this conflict started.”