Full-scale war between Pak-India possible: Bilawal Bhutto

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has warned that a full-scale war between Pakistan and India cannot be ruled out, given the presence of nuclear weapons on both sides.

In an interview with Sky News, Bilawal Bhutto reminded the world that both countries had fought wars in the past. He said Pakistan has full capability to respond to any Indian aggression.

“We do not want further escalation in the current situation,” he clarified. “But the international community must step in and urge India to de-escalate.”

Bilawal also called for an impartial and transparent investigation into the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, which has sharply raised tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi.

He stressed that rising tensions between two nuclear-armed states is a matter of serious global concern.

India blames Pakistan for the gun attack that killed 26 people on April 22 in Indian Occupied Kashmir, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi giving his military “complete operational freedom”.

US calls on India and Pakistan to ‘de-escalate’

Denying involvement, Islamabad says it has “credible evidence” that India is now planning an imminent military strike, vowing that “any act of aggression will be met with a decisive response”.

Since the attack — the deadliest in Kashmir on civilians in years — India and Pakistan have exchanged tit-for-tat diplomatic barbs and expulsions and shut border crossings.

The worst attack in recent years in Indian Occupied Kashmir was at Pulwama in 2019, when a suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a security forces convoy, killing 40 and wounding 35.

Indian fighter jets carried out air strikes on Pakistani territory 12 days later.

India and Pakistan have fought over the Himalayan territory since the violent end of British rule in 1947.