The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan to Advance Peace and Stability in South Asia<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A high-level parliamentary delegation of Pakistan, led by Chairman of the Pakistan People\u2019s Party and former Foreign Minister, Mr. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, met today with the UK\u2019s Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, Rt. Hon Hamish Falconer, at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) in London. The discussions focused on addressing escalating regional tensions following recent Indian military provocations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr. Bilawal Bhutto commended the UK\u2019s efforts and statements by its leadership on the importance of restraint, engagement, dialogue and diplomatic path forward. Mr. Bhutto briefed the Under-Secretary of State on Pakistan\u2019s position in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack of 22 April 2025. He categorically rejected India\u2019s baseless and premature allegations against Pakistan, made without any credible investigation or evidence. He emphasized that India\u2019s unilateral military actions, including deliberate attacks on civilians leading to killings and death of civilians and damage to civilian infrastructure and the arbitrary holding in abeyance of the Indus Water Treaty, represented a dangerous escalation that risked destabilizing the entire region. He underscored Pakistan\u2019s mature, responsible, and restrained conduct in the face of grave provocations, reaffirming its commitment to international law and the principles enshrined in the UN Charter, including the right to self-defense. He warned against India\u2019s attempts to establish a dangerous \u201cnew normal\u201d marked by impunity, unilateralism, and the use of force, which risks triggering a broader conflict in a nuclearized environment of South Asia. Mr. Bilawal Bhutto called on the UK\u2019s government to continue playing a proactive role in promoting de-escalation and facilitating dialogue between Pakistan and India. He highlighted the immediate need to restore the normal functioning of the Indus Waters Treaty, and promote a comprehensive dialogue between Pakistan and India\u2014particularly on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, which remains central to ensuring lasting peace in South Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The delegation also briefed on the humanitarian implications of holding in abeyance of the Indus Water Treaty, India\u2019s unprovoked aggression and violation of UN Charter and International law. It was regrettable that water war was being imposed on Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rt. Hon Hamish Falconer welcomed Pakistan\u2019s desire for peace and reaffirmed the UK\u2019s strong interest in the preservation of peace, restraint, and diplomacy in the region. He reiterated the UK\u2019s commitment to supporting all efforts aimed at de-escalation and peaceful resolution of disputes through dialogue. He underscored UK\u2019s government desire to remain engaged in promoting peace and stability in South Asia with the aim to reduce tensions and resolve disputes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The other members of the delegation include Minister for Climate Change and Environmental Coordination, Dr. Musadik Masood Malik; Chairperson, Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change and Environmental Coordination and former Minister for Information and Climate Change, Senator Sherry Rehman; Chairperson, National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and former Foreign Minister, Hina Rabbani Khar; former Minister for Commerce, Defence and Foreign Affairs, Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan; MQM’s Parliamentary Leader in the Senate and former Minister for Maritime Affairs, Senator Syed Faisal Ali Subzwari, Senator Bushra Anjum Butt, former Foreign Secretaries, Ambassador Jalil Abbas Jilani and Ambassador Tehmina Janjua.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pakistan\u2019s High Commissioner to the UK Dr. Mohammad Faisal was also present during the meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan to Advance Peace and Stability in South Asia A high-level parliamentary delegation of Pakistan, led by Chairman of the Pakistan People\u2019s Party and former Foreign Minister, Mr. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, met today with the UK\u2019s Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Middle East, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","inline_featured_image":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_3859443944190656_798604363342440":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakjazbo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakjazbo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakjazbo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakjazbo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakjazbo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6472"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pakjazbo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6474,"href":"https:\/\/pakjazbo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6472\/revisions\/6474"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakjazbo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakjazbo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakjazbo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakjazbo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}