By Isabella Torregiani
5:35am PDT, Jun 13, 2025
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Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Pakistan's former foreign minister, is warning that the risk of war with India remains high, despite the U.S. brokered ceasefire between the two nations.
"Our message has been that the ceasefire is a start, but it is only a start," Zardari emphasized in a recent interview with the
New York Post.
Keep reading for more details on his urgent pleas… MORE:
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Bilawal Bhutto Zardari spoke about his growing fears following last month's violent clashes in the disputed Kashmir region: "We're incredibly grateful for the role that the U.S. government — President Donald Trump, Secretary [of State] Marco Rubio — created throughout this crisis in helping us all achieve this ceasefire," he reportedly said. "But our message has been that the ceasefire is a start, but it is only a start, and what we seek is assistance in our pursuit of peace through dialogue and diplomacy."
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Bilawal Bhutto Zardari shared that while he's grateful for the United States' intervention, the situation remains bleak: "We're all a lot less safe as a result of this conflict than we were before. The threshold of full-out military conflict between India and Pakistan has been drastically lowered — the lowest it has ever been in our history, as a result of this conflict," he said.
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Part of the current tension stems from an attack that left 26 civilians dead, most of them Hindu, which India blames on the Kashmir-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Some Indian officials claim Pakistan played a role in enabling the group's actions. However, the country has strongly denied any involvement.
"The Prime Minister of Pakistan offered an impartial international inquiry because we were confident that Pakistan is not involved in this terrorist incident," Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said, adding that the international intelligence community endorses this view."
At one point, Pakistani officials came to Washington hoping to work with India on counterterrorism strategies.
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Bilawal Bhutto Zardari warned in his interview with The Post that any new terrorist attack on Indian soil could be treated as an act of war — and the same goes for Pakistan: "The law of reciprocation means, therefore, if there's a terrorist attack in Pakistan, we are to also treat it as an act of war," he said.
He further raised awareness of India's threat to cut off Pakistan's water supply, calling it "an existential matter" and a potential "act of war."
"If we are to engage in a new dialogue with India, make new promises with one another that could potentially lead to new treaties, then it's very important that they abide by the old treaties like the Indus Water Treaty," he said.
