‘Pakistani army sent message’: Jaishankar counters Trump’s claims, reveals what led to India-Pakistan ceasefire | India News

File photo of external affairs minister S Jaishankar

NEW DELHI: External affairs minister S Jaishankar has firmly rejected US President Donald Trump’s claims of brokering peace between India and Pakistan, asserting that the recent cessation of hostilities was achieved through direct communication between the two nations.In an interview with Netherlands-based NOS, Jaishankar detailed how the de-escalation actually occurred. “Yes, we have a mechanism to talk to each other as a hotline. So, on the 10th of May, it was the Pakistani army which sent a message that they were ready to stop firing, and we responded accordingly.”This came after India launched “Operation Sindoor,” in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 civilian lives. While acknowledging that various countries, including the US, reached out during the crisis, Jaishankar affirmed that the actual resolution was bilateral.

“Well, the US was in the United States. Obviously, US Secretary of State Rubio and Vice President Vance had called up, Rubio had spoken to me, Vance had spoken to our Prime Minister, they had their view and they were talking to us and they were talking to Pakistani side as indeed were some other countries. There were some countries in the Gulf, there were some others as well,” Jaishankar said.“That happens naturally, when we know when two countries are engaged in a conflict, it is natural that the countries in the world call up, sort of indicate their concern and what they can do in such a situation but the cessation of firing and military action was something which was negotiated directly between India and Pakistan. We made one thing very clear to everybody who spoke to us, not just the United States, but to everyone, saying look if the Pakistani want to stop the firing, they need to tell us, we need to hear it from them, their general has to call our general and say this and that is what happened,” he added.Earlier today, Trump once again claimed credit for brokering India and Pakistan ceasefire stating that he “settled it through trade”.“If you take a look at what we just did with Pakistan and India, we settled that whole thing, and I think I settled it through trade. We’re doing a big deal with India. We’re doing a big deal with Pakistan… You know somebody had to be the last one to shoot, but the shooting was getting worse and worse, bigger and bigger, deeper and deeper into the country. We spoke to them and…we got it settled, and then two days later something happened, and they said it was Trump’s fault, but Pakistan has some excellent people and some really good leaders and India is my friend... Modi, he’s a great guy,” Trump said.During the interview, Jaishankar also outlined the Modi government’s firm stance on terrorism. “Our government has been very clear. Okay, I accept that may not be the policy of the earlier government. But, our government is very clear, if there is such an attack, there will be response. The response was there, the response targeted these nine places, where the terrorist centres, as I said, they are all, the places are all shown in the UN list, I mean this is where the terrorists work and live and operate from,” the EAM said.“After that, the Pakistani military chose to fire on us and we responded, this went on four days and after that, the decisive day was the 10th of May. On the morning of 10th May, in response to an attack which they had launched on us earlier that morning, we had hit eight airbases. We basically made these bases non-functional, you know, we hit their runways, we hit their command centres,” he added.On May 7 India launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ targeting nine terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, eliminating over 100 terrorists from various groups including Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Hizbul Mujahideen. Pakistan’s subsequent retaliation led to crossborder shelling and attempted drone attacks, before both nations reached an understanding on May 10.Jaishankar asserted that while active hostilities have ceased, Operation Sindoor’s strategic message remains: “The operation continues because there is a clear message in that operation, that if there are acts of the kind we saw on April 22nd, there will be a response, we will hit the terrorists. If the terrorists are in Pakistan, we will hit them where they are.”(With ANI inputs)