Speaking on the matter in the Netherlands during a media interview, EAM Jaishankar said, “This is something that only India and Pakistan need to settle directly.”
NEW DELHI — External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has rejected US President Donald Trump’s claim that he played a role in mediating a ceasefire between India and Pakistan and clarified that the recent ceasefire was a result of direct dialogue between the two countries without any third-party intervention.
Speaking on the matter in the Netherlands during a media interview, EAM Jaishankar said, “This is something that only India and Pakistan need to settle directly.”
The foreign minister stated that several countries reached out to India during the four-day conflict. He revealed that the Narendra Modi government had conveyed to all nations, including the US, that Pakistan would need to approach India directly if it sought a ceasefire.
“We made one thing very clear to everybody who spoke to us, not just the United States but to everyone, saying if the Pakistanis want to stop fighting, they need to tell us. We need to hear it from them. Their general has to call up our general and say this. And that is what happened,” Jaishankar said speaking to Dutch broadcaster NOS, as reported in media.
He reiterated that India is open to dialogue with Pakistan, but only under serious terms that prioritise an end to cross-border terrorism. “We are always ready to talk, but the talks must be serious and should focus on stopping terrorism,” he added.
Shedding light on the events leading up to the ceasefire on May 10, Jaishankar said that the proposition to de-escalate came from the Pakistani side.
Jaishankar’s comments come in response to Trump’s earlier remarks, where the former US President claimed that the United States had helped broker peace in what he described as a “thousand-year conflict” between the two South Asian nations.
However, India has consistently maintained that the Kashmir issue and related tensions are bilateral matters and do not require external mediation.
In a recent interview, Jaishankar delved into the historical complexities of the India-Pakistan relationship, which dates back to the Partition in 1947.
He stated that Pakistan’s pattern of hostility began when it sent fighters disguised as tribal militias into Kashmir, fighters who were later identified as Pakistani soldiers, some in uniform and some not.
“Over many years, Pakistan has followed a path of extremism and has used terrorism across the border to put pressure on India,” Jaishankar remarked.
Tensions between the two neighbouring nations spiked again following a deadly terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22, which claimed the lives of 26 people, including one Nepali national. In response, India launched ‘Operation Sindoor’, a precision counter-terror strike targeting nine key terror hubs across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). — With inputs from IANS
