“Indus or Blood”: Bilawal Bhutto Resorts to Rhetoric After India Suspends Indus Water Treaty

As India takes firm diplomatic action after the Pahalgam terror attack, Pakistan’s PPP leader responds with inflammatory statements while his own government admits to supporting terror groups.

Sukkur [Pakistan], April 26:
In the aftermath of the brutal terror attack in Pahalgam that claimed 26 lives, India responded with a firm diplomatic offensive, suspending the Indus Waters Treaty. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, however, chose to respond with fiery rhetoric rather than substance during a rally in Sukkur on Friday.

Addressing a charged crowd, Bhutto-Zardari declared that Pakistanis would not accept what he called “Modi’s aggression” over the Indus River. “Either our water will flow from this Indus, or your blood,” he threatened, standing near the river, according to Geo News. He compared the situation to PPP’s own refusal to pass canal projects without national consensus—framing his stance as one of patriotic defiance.

However, his remarks were overshadowed by a candid admission from Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khwaja Asif, who in a widely circulated interview with Sky News, acknowledged the country’s historical role in funding and supporting terrorist organizations.

“We have been doing this dirty work for the United States for about three decades,” Asif said. He further admitted that Pakistan’s involvement in wars post-9/11 and earlier during the Soviet era had tainted its record, stating, “That was a mistake, and we suffered for that.”

In the same interview, Asif warned of a potential “all-out war” with India, raising concerns amid an already volatile atmosphere.

India, in response to the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baisaran meadow, implemented several sharp diplomatic measures. These included the closure of the Integrated Check Post at Attari, suspension of the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES) for Pakistani nationals, and a downsizing of diplomatic staff in both countries’ high commissions. The Indus Waters Treaty, a landmark 1960 agreement brokered by the World Bank, was also suspended.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed that the perpetrators and conspirators behind the Pahalgam attack would face punishment “beyond their imagination,” asserting that “the backbone of terrorism will now be broken by the willpower of 140 crore Indians.”

While India takes concrete action on the diplomatic and security fronts, Pakistan’s leadership faces growing scrutiny over its contradictory stance—condemning terrorism on the surface while admitting to decades of covert support for it.