ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Tuesday urged India to pursue peace instead of confrontation, warning that Pakistan`s restraint should not be mistaken as weakness.

`Let India decide will it be dialogue or destruction, cooperation or confrontation? History shall record not only their choice, but also ours,` he said during a discussion in the National Assembly on the state of Pakistan-India relations following the Pahalgam attack in India-held Kashmir.

`Let history show that when Pakistan stood at the crossroads of provocation and principle, we chose principle. In choosing it, we chose honour, peace and victory.

The former foreign minister also insisted that Pakistan`s armed forces remain vigilant, resolute and prepared.

`Our skies are guarded, our borders are sealed by valour. Our nation stands united from Karachi to Khyber and from Lahore to Larkana. The sword we wield is only drawn when peace is threatened but when drawn, it does not miss,` he asserted.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari maintained that Pakistan is not the aggressor, but the aggrieved party. `We do not seek revenge.

We seek recognition of Kashmir`s right to self-determination, recognition of our sovereignty and recognition that peace must be earned through unity, not dictated by fear,` he added.

He called on India to approach dialogue with `open hands, not clenched fists` and expressed regret over New Delhi`s reaction to the recent attack in Pahalgam.

`Tourists were killed. Blood was spilled. It was a tragedy by any measure.

Yet before the bodies had turned cold, New Delhi turned its wrath towards Islamabad, pointing fingers, tightening borders and threatening consequences, he said.

The PPP chairman reiterated that Pakistan had no hand in that crime. `We do not export terror. We are the victims of terrorism,` he said.

He criticised India for expecting the more than 200 million people of Pakistan to answer for the actions of unidentified assailants, especially when India itself has yet to account for its naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav, whose name and rank within India`s armed forces are on the record.

`India`s accusations are stale based on history, not ground realities; based on fiction, not fact. India has become the boy who cried wolf in South Asia,` he said.Pakistan has presented evidence of Indian involvement in terrorism, not only through proxies but through its armed forces, Mr Bhutto-Zardari said, stressing that India has blood on its hands from Sri LankatoCanadaandbeyond.

`India must abandon terrorism as a tool of its foreign policy,` he said, adding that both countries must cooperate to eradicate terrorism from the region.

Referring to the prime minister`s call for an impartial investigation into the Pahalgam incident, he remarked: `Why would a true victim of terrorism shy away from accountability unless they are worried that the world will see that the real blame for the bloodshed in Kashmir lies in New Delhi, not Islamabad`.

He also condemned India`s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, calling it a `crime against humanity`. He added, `It is the politicisation of water and the criminalisation of nature. What madness is this, that you would threaten the food and livelihood of millions for a grievance that lies within your own borders?` `Diplomatic defeat` Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Information Attaullah Tarar said India had faced a `crushing defeat` in both diplomatic circles and the information domain. `The defeat suffered by India on the diplomatic front will be remembered for generations,` he said.

The minister revealed that Pakistan had managed to get a song of its armed forces broadcast on Indian YouTube channels through geotagging and paid advertisement airtime. `We will also fight in the information domain and information warfare and give India a crushing defeat,` he said.

Mr Tarar said that Pakistan had `undeniable and irrefutable` evidence of India`s state-sponsored terrorism, citing Kulbhushan Jadhav and the attack on the Jaffar Express as examples.

He questioned how the initial footage of the railway blast was aired on Indian television, suggesting links between the incident and the Indian state.

Meanwhile, MQM`s Dr Farooq Sattar called the Pahalgam attack `yet another example of India`s intelligence failure, and urged New Delhi to accept responsibility rather than blaming Pakistan.

PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said the Pakistani nation remained united and warned against the dangers of war between two nuclear-armed states.

He advised both countries to choose dialogue and called on the government to take the matter of the Indus Waters Treaty suspension to the International Court of Justice.