Pakistan has announced plans to recommend U.S. President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, citing his role in de-escalating a recent armed conflict between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan.
The announcement, made Saturday, praised the U.S president for his “strategic foresight and stellar statesmanship,” with Pakistani officials crediting his diplomatic intervention for halting a four-day exchange of hostilities earlier this year. A government statement called the ceasefire a “testament to his role as a genuine peacemaker.”
While heads of state and governments are eligible to nominate individuals for the Nobel Peace Prize, there has been no immediate reaction from the White House or the U.S president himself. India, however, rejected the notion of third-party mediation, insisting that the ceasefire was reached independently between its military and Pakistan’s.
Indian Foreign Secretary speaks to Trump
India’s foreign secretary, Vikram Misri, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made it “absolutely clear” to the 79-year-old president during a recent phone call that no external actor was involved in the ceasefire agreement. “Hostilities ceased only after Pakistan requested it,” he added.
Trump, meanwhile, has been vocal about his global peacemaking efforts. In a social media post Friday, he listed a series of international conflicts he claims to have helped resolve, including India and Pakistan, the Abraham Accords between Israel and several Muslim-majority countries, and more recently, tensions between Russia and Ukraine. “No, I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize no matter what I do… but the people know, and that’s all that matters to me,” he wrote.
The announcement of Pakistan’s nomination comes shortly after a historic lunch meeting between Trump and Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, marking the first White House invitation extended to a top Pakistani military leader under a civilian government in Islamabad.
Some Pakistani officials defended the decision to back Trump for the prestigious prize. “Trump is good for Pakistan,” said Mushahid Hussain, a former chair of the Senate Defence Committee. “If this panders to Trump’s ego, so be it. All the European leaders have been sucking up to him big time.”
But the move has drawn sharp criticism from within Pakistan, especially given Trump’s vocal support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and his hardline stance on Iran.
“Israel’s sugar daddy in Gaza and cheerleader of its attacks on Iran isn’t a candidate for any prize,” said Talat Hussain, a prominent Pakistani political commentator, on X.
The Nobel Committee has not yet commented on Pakistan’s proposed nomination.
