Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, Pakistani Ambassador to France: “South Asia has avoided a major catastrophe”

INTERNATIONAL GUEST

By: Nicolas Rocca
Published: May 13, 2025

[Listen: 7.15 min]

Since May 10, armed clashes between India and Pakistan, triggered by a terrorist attack on April 22 in the disputed Kashmir region between the two neighbors, have given way to a fragile lull. Pakistani Ambassador to France Muhmtaz Zahra Baloch discusses the situation.

RFI: On May 10, the ceasefire ended the most serious confrontation between India and Pakistan in more than two decades. The last two nights have been relatively calm, with no major incidents on the border. But the balance between the two nuclear powers remains precarious. Yesterday, the Indian Prime Minister’s speech was particularly offensive toward your country. He claimed that Pakistan had chosen ” to attack India rather than fight terrorism .” How did you react to his remarks ?

Mumtaz Zahra Baloch: You are right. South Asia has avoided a major catastrophe. We were heading in that direction, and this catastrophe is the result of Indian aggression against Pakistan. Prime Minister Modi’s speech yesterday confirms that today’s India is no longer Gandhi’s India; it is an India aggressive towards its neighbor. Yesterday, Prime Minister Modi said that Pakistan had attacked, which is very far from the truth. It was India that committed aggression against Pakistan, and Pakistan declared that it wanted peace, that it was a peaceful people, but that it would not accept aggression or intimidation.

How is the Pakistani government fighting terrorist groups active on the border, which New Delhi blames for killing 26 Indian tourists?

First of all, I must tell you that Pakistan is fighting terrorism on a daily basis. Pakistanis are being killed by terrorists, and our armed forces are doing everything to protect the population against terrorism; it is in our interest to fight it and not create problems in our neighborhood. Second, the incident of April 22, for which India is accusing Pakistan, is absolutely not true, because we are waiting for facts. We are waiting for India to share evidence, not only with Pakistan, but also with the international community. So far, there has been no evidence, only their words.

We have seen India use this excuse of terrorism as a pretext against any country before attacking it. Pakistan has proposed an open investigation, an international investigation into the April 22 incident so that we can know for sure what the facts are, who is behind all this, and we expect India to share the evidence, not only with Pakistan, but also with the international community. Who is behind all this? And we are always ready to follow up on this offer. It is India that rejected this offer of an international investigation.

Donald Trump assured yesterday, Monday, that he had succeeded in ” stopping a nuclear conflict .” As we know, your country, like India, has nuclear weapons.
What did he actually negotiate? What are the trade-offs?

From day one, we’ve been in contact with the United States and many international partners who are very concerned about a conflict in South Asia, because that region has millions of people and two nuclear-armed countries. So it was important for the international community to intervene, and the United States has certainly played an important role, and we appreciate their intervention in this regard.

When Pakistan responded to the Indian aggression, India made it clear that it did not want any escalation. It became easier for international partners to convey this message of reducing tensions. The DG MOs held two telephone conversations and agreed that we would continue to maintain this ceasefire.

Prime Minister Modi’s speech on Monday, May 12, was very worrying because he said there was a pause and that we were still heading towards aggression against Pakistan. Pakistan will not take this lightly.

How do you permanently calm conflict? How do you create lasting peace?

You see, for lasting peace, it is very important that we resolve the issues that continue to plague bilateral relations between Pakistan and India. Some of these problems have persisted since the very first day of our independence in 1947. The most important being the Kashmir dispute. The other important issue I must mention is India’s decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty. This decision is detrimental to Pakistan’s food and water security. This is an attack on the Pakistani people that Pakistan will not accept. Therefore, for lasting peace, it is important that existing international agreements be respected. If peace is maintained, then we will try to resolve the problems that have continued to plague these two countries for several decades.

Does China have a role to play?

I won’t go into details at this point, but the United States has certainly offered to play a mediating role, and we are ready to accept that offer. Yes, China has been Pakistan’s main arms supplier, but Pakistan has also purchased weapons from the United States and France. We will do everything to protect ourselves and will procure military equipment from countries that are willing to sell it to us. China is one of the countries that has sold this type of weaponry. We have not closed the door to any country. For us, it is important that Pakistan is ready to combat any aggression from India.

Regarding French weapons, the Pakistani government announced that three Indian Rafales had been shot down. India declined to comment. Sources within the French defense ministry reported a single Rafale. Generally speaking, it is very difficult to obtain reliable information on this conflict. Can you shed some light on this subject? How many Rafale aircraft have been shot down by the Pakistani army?

You know, today we cannot hide this kind of information, we have satellites in space and there are so many other means of information. Our army is very confident in the fact that we have indeed shot down and destroyed three Rafale aircraft.

We hope India will learn a lesson from what happened and not engage in another military adventure against Pakistan, because our forces are ready to defend themselves. We are not in aggression mode. We do not want this conflict, but if a war is imposed on us, Pakistan is ready to defend itself, and we have been training for this for several decades.