External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday again clarified that the ceasefire understanding between India and Pakistan after the military conflict in May was reached with negotiations between the DGMOs of the two countries and not any trade talk, as claimed by US President Donald Trump.
Donald Trump has claimed several times of using trade as a means of resolving the India-Pakistan conflict, which was triggered after the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attack and escalated with India’s retaliation through ‘Operation Sindoor’ on May 7.
On US President Donald Trump’s remarks on the ceasefire between India and Pakistan*, EAM Dr S Jaishankar said on Thursday while speaking to the press in Washington DC, “The record of what happened at that time was very clear and the ceasefire was something which was negotiated between the DGMOs of the two countries…”
“I will leave it at that,” Jaishankar added.
During the fireside chat with Newsweek earlier this week as well, Jaishankar stated that he was “in the room” when US Vice Prsident Vance spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the night of May 9.
Jaishankar said Vance had told PM Modi that Pakistan would launch a massive assault on India if they did not accept certain things. According to him, PM Modi during the call indicated that there would be a response from India.
“In terms of what has been our position, yes, we have for many years it’s not a position just of this government in Delhi, I mean it’s been a national consensus that our dealings with Pakistan are bilateral and in this particular case, I can tell you that when I was in the room when Vice President Vance spoke to Prime Minister Modi on the night of 9th May saying that you know the Pakistanis would launch a very massive assault on India if we did not accept certain things and the prime minister was impervious to what the Pakistanis were threatening to do on the contrary he (PM Modi) indicated that there would be a response from us this was the night before. Something the Pakistanis did was attack us massively that night, we responded very quickly thereafter, and the next morning, Mr Rubio called me up and said the Pakistanis were ready to talk. So, I can only tell you from my personal experience what happened,” Jaishankar said in the interview.
Despite India’s denials, Trump has repeatedly claimed to have brokered peace between India and Pakistan after India launched Operation Sindoor.
On May 10, foreign secretary Vikram Misri had announced that Pakistan’s Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) had called the Indian counterpart, and it was agreed between them that both sides would cease all firing and military action on land, in the air, and at sea.
Operation Sindoor was launched by the Indian armed forces on May 7, targeting nine terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir (PoK) in response to a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22, in which 26 civilians were killed terrorists found to have links with Pakistan.
