Pakistan warns India may derail Trump’s push for South Asia peace

Pakistan’s former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has warned that New Delhi may try to ‘sabotage’ U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to mediate peace between India and Pakistan, even as tensions continue to simmer despite a ceasefire facilitated by Washington.

In an interview with U.S. television channel Newsmax, Bilawal said he fears the Indian government may not fully support Trump’s vision for dialogue and may attempt to derail the peace process.

His remarks came at the conclusion of a five-day diplomatic visit to the United States, where he led a high-level Pakistani delegation for meetings aimed at securing international backing in the wake of renewed tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.

“I suspect that the Indian government will try and sabotage the president's efforts,” Bilawal said. “So we’re hopeful that that sabotage doesn't succeed, and we can work together to achieve peace.”

He said Pakistan agreed to the ceasefire with India brokered by Trump on the understanding that it would be a first step toward sustained dialogue.

“We did so while communicating with the United States. And we were communicated that this would just be the start -- we’d work towards a permanent peace through dialogue and diplomacy. At a neutral location, we’d discuss all friction points with India. And I’m confident that the President of the United States shares that vision.”

‘Trump only leader who can broker Pakistan-India peace’

Bilawal, who formerly headed Pakistan’s foreign ministry, described Trump as the only international leader capable of brokering peace between the two countries. “I think that President Trump is the one man at the moment who can bring about peace between India and Pakistan,” he said.

“His stature, his leadership qualities, and his vision support peace. He’s friends with Pakistan, he’s friends with India -- so he can talk to both of us as a friend and try and convince us to get along.”

Despite the ceasefire, Bilawal said the situation in South Asia remains dangerously volatile. “We have achieved a ceasefire, but we haven’t achieved peace,” he said. “We’re actually in a situation in South Asia right now where we’re less safe than we were before this conflict.”

“The threshold for full-out war between India and Pakistan has severely, severely decreased as a result of this,” he warned. “If there’s a terrorist attack anywhere in India or in Indian-occupied Kashmir, it means war between India and Pakistan — and that’s not sustainable.”

Core issues must be addressed for lasting peace

He called on the United States to use its influence with New Delhi to push for dialogue. “We’re looking to the U.S. to play a role in encouraging their friend and ally India to have a dialogue with Pakistan, talk to them as a friend and explain that the current state of play doesn't serve their interest, doesn't serve our interest, and it doesn't serve U.S. interests in the region.”

Bilawal said that any comprehensive peace process must address Kashmir, which he called the core issue behind repeated wars between the two nations. “Of course we have to discuss Kashmir as a root issue... because if we keep ignoring Kashmir, they’ll keep producing the cannon fodder for terrorists to use in such an event. So we have to talk Kashmir.”

Pakistan, he added, is also ready to engage India on the issue of terrorism. “We’re happy to talk terrorism. Pakistan has seated cooperation with the United States. We’ve done a great job while working with them. But if we don’t talk to India about terrorism, we won’t be able to cooperate on terror.”

He further accused India of “weaponizing water” by threatening to restrict water flow to Pakistan -- a move he said would impact 240 million people. “That’s a violation of the UN Charter. That’s surely something that no one -- no one -- can support,” he said, urging global condemnation.

Bilawal warned that continued Indian aggression and support for armed proxies in Pakistan’s Balochistan province would undermine regional stability and scare off investment. “It’s not going to create an environment that’s conducive, even if our trade talks,” he said.

Conflict as an economic incentive

He also spoke about the broader benefits of peace, trade, and cooperation, arguing that entrenched interests in both India and the United States benefit from conflict. “There are entrenched interests here in Washington and in India who want to see us in a perpetual state of war,” Bilawal said. “Because U.S. tax dollars subsidize the Indian economy, and sometimes subsidize the Indian military-industrial complex — all in the name of being this net security provider.”

“But someone needs to explain to them that they can’t have their economy subsidized forever. If India and Pakistan make peace, and we start trading, we’ll all have the prosperity necessary to make progress.”

He added that Pakistan sees new opportunities in post-conflict engagement with the United States, including trade, agriculture, technology, and mineral development. “The world is our oyster as far as the potential we can unlock on that front,” he said.

Bilawal accuses India of avoiding dialogue

Separately, during a press conference at the Pakistan Embassy in Washington on Saturday, Bilawal criticized Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for adopting an aggressive stance and “weaponizing water” amid rising regional tensions. He also accused New Delhi of distorting facts about the recent attack in Kashmir to mislead the international community.

Bilawal said Pakistan’s political and military leadership remained united in their opposition to terrorism and in their desire for regional stability — but claimed India was deliberately evading efforts toward dialogue.

Bilawal Bhutto addresses a press conference in Pakistan Embassy in Washington on Saturday.Screengrab

“India continues to dodge investigations and avoid the negotiating table,” he said. “Frankly, the excuses are growing weaker and more absurd with time.”

He added that Pakistan was open to any format of dialogue — whether with India’s civilian or military leadership — if the objective was peace.

“We keep hearing shifting justifications: one day it’s civil-military imbalance, the next it’s geopolitics, or sweeping generalizations about Muslims and terrorism,” he said. “But at the end of the day, it’s irrational for two nuclear-armed neighbors, with such a low conflict threshold, to have zero mechanisms for conflict resolution.”

Bilawal also noted that India had shown no interest in third-party mediation -- whether by the United States, the United Nations, or any other international actor -- and now refused even direct engagement with Pakistan.

“It’s in everyone’s interest, including India’s, to reverse decisions that only deepen hostility and instead choose diplomacy over denial,” he said.