Bhubaneswar: Former Pakistani foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has acknowledged Pakistan’s past involvement in funding extremist groups, aligning with recent admissions from the defence minister.
“As far as what the defence minister said, I don’t think it is a secret that Pakistan has a past as far as extremist groups are concerned. As a result, we have suffered, Pakistan has suffered. We have gone through wave after wave of extremism. But as a result of what we suffered, we also learned our lessons. We have gone through internal reforms to address this problem…,” Bhutto said in conversation with Sky News’s Yalda Hakim on Thursday.
When grilled further on the country’s policy on backing such organisations, he pointed at Pakistan’s active role in funding and supporting the Mujahideen during the first Afghan war. “We did that in coordination and collaboration with Western powers,” he said.
Bhutto, however, insisted that things have changed in the recent past. “…it is history and it is not something that we are partaking in today. It is true that it is an unfortunate part of our history,” he added.
‘I don’t think it is a secret that Pakistan has a past’
Former Foreign Minister of Pakistan Bilawal Bhutto tells @SkyYaldaHakim ‘we have gone through wave after wave of extremism’https://t.co/aLfgNyPdOk
Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/ozYfdtFp5v
— Sky News (@SkyNews) April 30, 2025
Reacting to the interview, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) IT cell chief Amit Malviya noted that the fear was ‘palpable’ with the spectre of war looming large in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, which saw targeted killing of Hindus in the Valley on April 22.
India has long accused Pakistan of supporting cross-border terrorism, particularly in Kashmir. Tensions between the two neighbours have escalated following the recent terrorist attack with two of the suspects identified as Pakistani nationals.
The fear is palpable. pic.twitter.com/vbFXEwQTvR
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) May 2, 2025
Notably, Bhutto ‘s comments came almost a week after Khawaja Asif, who admitted the country’s history of supporting, training and funding terrorist organisations as “dirty work” for the West. He added that Pakistan paid a heavy price for aligning with the US during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the post 9/11 war on terror.
