KEY POINTS
- Pakistan demands neutral probe into Pahalgam attack
- Kashmir called the core issue behind regional instability
- India urged to address internal security failures in occupied Kashmir.
- Pakistan slams India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty as illegal.
ISLAMABAD: As tensions with India continue to escalate following the April 22 Pahalgam attack, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States has reiterated Islamabad’s longstanding demand for a just and lasting resolution to the Kashmir dispute.
Islamabad has categorically rejected Indian insinuations of cross-border involvement in the incident and urged the international community to play a proactive role in defusing the crisis by addressing the core issue of the unresolved status of Illegally Indian Occupied Kashmir (IIOK).
In a detailed interview with Fox News Digital, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, underscored the urgency of international engagement.
He warned that the region remains a nuclear flashpoint, with the potential for catastrophic consequences if current tensions are allowed to spiral out of control.
“Any misadventure or miscalculation can lead to a nuclear interface,” he said, adding that such a scenario would be disastrous for one of the world’s most densely populated regions.
Ambassador Sheikh called on global leaders—particularly US President Donald Trump—to intervene meaningfully, not through temporary fixes but by tackling the root cause of instability in South Asia.
This is not the time for Band-Aid solutions. It is time to resolve the Kashmir dispute, once and for all, he said.
He criticised previous international responses as short-lived and inconsistent, noting that global attention often fades before tensions are fully de-escalated.
“This time, perhaps the international community should not look away until the broader problem is addressed,” he urged.
Referring to India’s response in the immediate aftermath of the Pahalgam attack—which left 26 dead, mostly tourists—Sheikh said New Delhi’s accusations against Pakistan were baseless, premature, and inflammatory.
“Within minutes of the incident, India began pointing fingers at Pakistan, without offering no evidence,” he said, noting that a post-investigation report was released just 10 minutes after the attack—a timeline he called implausible given the remote, mountainous location.
Ambassador Sheikh reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to peace, emphasising that Islamabad’s calls for restraint should not be misconstrued as weakness.
“We want peace with dignity. But we will not accept false narratives designed to distract from the realities in occupied Kashmir.”
He strongly criticised India’s internal handling of the region, highlighting systemic failures in governance and security in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
“Why is India not addressing its administrative inadequacies?” he asked, pointing out that the suspects named so far were Indian nationals whose homes had already been searched.
He further condemned India’s attempts to alter the region’s demography by settling non-residents—a policy Pakistan views as a clear violation of international law.
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In a fresh blow to already strained bilateral ties, India has unilaterally announced the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty—a water-sharing agreement brokered by the World Bank and in place since 1960.
Ambassador Sheikh termed the move “grossly illegal,” stressing that the treaty had withstood multiple wars and remained a critical mechanism for regional water cooperation.
Concluding his remarks, Ambassador Sheikh appealed to President Trump to act on his stated commitment to global peace.
“President Trump has said his proudest legacy would be that of a peacemaker. Addressing the Kashmir dispute could be a defining moment in that legacy,” he said.
