Former Singaporean diplomat Bilahari Kausikan has claimed that former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto refused to speak to him during the 1991 hijacking of a Singapore Airlines aircraft, despite the hijackers allegedly demanding to speak with her.Speaking during an interaction with journalists hosted by the National Press Foundation, Kausikan recounted the incident while sharply criticising Pakistan’s political leadership and describing the country as “teetering on the brink of failure”.According to Kausikan, the hijacking took place in 1991 when armed men seized a Singapore Airlines plane and, during negotiations, asked to speak to Bhutto, who was out of office and living at her family estate in Sindh.Kausikan said he contacted Bhutto’s residence in the early hours of the morning with the assistance of Pakistan’s High Commissioner. After several attempts to find an English-speaking member of the household, someone answered the call but allegedly refused to wake Bhutto despite being told that the hijackers had threatened to kill passengers if their demand was not met.”Ma’am is sleeping, cannot be disturbed,” Kausikan quoted the person as saying before the call was disconnected.He said security forces later stormed the aircraft, killing the hijackers and rescuing all passengers and crew without casualties.”We still do not know—and we’ll never know—what they really wanted because they’re all dead,” Kausikan said, adding that Bhutto did not cooperate during the negotiations.During the interaction, Kausikan also criticised Pakistan’s political system, calling its civilian politicians “a waste of time” and arguing that the country’s long-standing governance failures, rather than its geography or neighbours, were responsible for its current challenges.”I don’t think you can blame your location on everything. That’s an excuse. Pakistan, from the very beginning, has been mismanaged terribly,” he said.Referring to Pakistan’s recent diplomatic engagements, including improving ties with the United States and its role in mediation efforts in West Asia, Kausikan said these developments did not alter what he described as the country’s underlying structural problems.Bhutto, who served as Pakistan’s Prime Minister twice, was assassinated in 2007.Ex-Singapore Ambassador Bilahari Kausikan tells the hilarious story of why he thinks all Pakistani politicians are a “waste of time” pic.twitter.com/CeWddRWL9Z— Shashank Mattoo (@MattooShashank) July 3, 2026