Ex-Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has accepted that Pakistan's attempts to push the Kashmir cause at the United Nations—and in general—so far have not made much headway.
"At the UN and more generally, the difficulties we encounter in terms of the Kashmir cause are still the same," Bilawal stated while addressing a press conference on Tuesday with a delegation of Pakistani lawmakers.
He said he saw "receptiveness" during his meetings with UN officials and diplomats on issues like terrorism and water, but not on Kashmir.
Bilawal, leader of the Pakistan People's Party, also dismissed a comparison made by a Palestinian journalist between Kashmir and Gaza situations—one that is commonly made by some in Pakistan.
Let me be clear at the outset, I do not find any significant similarity between the situation of the Palestinians and Pakistan or Kashmir," he said assertively.
"The atrocities that we are seeing in Gaza and Palestine are uniquely atrocious, inhumane, and indefensible in all aspects," he continued.
However, Bilawal blamed India for following Israel's lead, alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to model himself after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but he said Modi fails to do so.
The Pakistani delegation was formed by Islamabad as a counterpart to the all-party Indian delegations sent worldwide to present New Delhi’s stance on its zero-tolerance policy towards terrorism, including Operation Sindoor—a campaign targeting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir following the killing of 26 people in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir.
Since its arrival in New York on Monday, the Pakistani delegation has been received by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, General Assembly President Philemon Yang, Security Council President Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, and the US, China, Russia, France, as well as the permanent and non-permanent members of the Council.
The delegation will visit Washington on Wednesday, when it coincidentally merges with the Indian parliamentary delegation led by MP Shashi Tharoor.
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