Pak PM Says 35 Million Could Have Died: Trump Repeats India-Pak conflict

US President  Donald Trump has once again asserted that his administration played a decisive role in stopping last year’s military flare-up between India and Pakistan, claiming that American intervention prevented what he described as a catastrophic nuclear confrontation.

According to the report,  Trump said his diplomatic outreach helped cool tempers between the two South Asian rivals at a time when tensions were spiralling dangerously. He further claimed that Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, had conveyed to him that millions of lives could have been lost had hostilities continued.

According to the report, Trump said Sharif told him that as many as 35 million people might have died during India’s military campaign codenamed Operation Sindoor if Washington had not intervened to push both nations towards an immediate truce.

The conflict traces back to April 22 last year, when a deadly terrorist attack in Pahalgam claimed the lives of 26 tourists. In response, India launched precision strikes on May 7 targeting terror infrastructure linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. New Delhi maintained that the operation was focused, measured, and aimed solely at dismantling cross-border terror networks.

While Trump has consistently portrayed himself as the central figure in ending the confrontation, India has not publicly endorsed his version of events. Indian officials have repeatedly maintained that decisions regarding military action and de-escalation were taken bilaterally and in line with India’s strategic and security considerations.

As per the report, Trump reiterated that he used economic leverage to press both countries to step back from the brink. He claimed that the United States threatened steep trade penalties, including the possibility of imposing 200 per cent tariffs, if the hostilities were not brought to a halt. According to him, this pressure compelled both sides to agree to what he described as a “full and immediate” ceasefire.

Since May 10 last year, when he first announced via social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to end active hostilities after US-mediated discussions, Trump has frequently returned to the subject. By his own account, he has cited the India-Pakistan ceasefire more than 80 times as evidence of his administration’s global peacemaking credentials.

As per the report, the US President went a step further, grouping the India-Pakistan episode among what he described as eight conflicts his administration had defused within the first year of his second term. The claim forms part of a broader narrative he has advanced about reshaping American diplomacy through assertive negotiation tactics and economic pressure.

However, Trump’s renewed remarks have reportedly caused discomfort in Islamabad. Last year, Pakistan had nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize, praising what it described as his “diplomatic intervention” in averting war. The latest statement, particularly the dramatic reference to a potential death toll, has drawn scrutiny, with critics questioning both the scale of the claim and the accuracy of the account.

Strategic experts note that while international actors often engage in backchannel diplomacy during crises, ceasefires between sovereign nations typically emerge from a complex mix of military realities, diplomatic outreach, and domestic calculations. In the case of the India-Pakistan standoff, multiple channels of communication were reportedly active, including military hotlines and diplomatic interlocutors.

For India, the central narrative has remained consistent: the strikes under Operation Sindoor were a counter-terror response following the Pahalgam attack , and any subsequent de-escalation was managed through established bilateral mechanisms. New Delhi has avoided directly responding to Trump’s repeated claims, instead emphasising its zero-tolerance stance on terrorism.

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