India-Pakistan Directly Negotiated Ceasefire: S Jaishankar Dismisses Trump's Mediation Claims

Despite US President Donald Trump taking credit for easing tensions between India and Pakistan, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that New Delhi and Islamabad "directly negotiated" the ceasefire.

Speaking to Dutch public broadcaster NOS, S Jaishankar said that several countries were in touch with India after launching Operation Sindoor and the United States was not alone. He stated that India told every country to talk to India directly if Islamabad wants a ceasefire.

"When two countries are engaged in a conflict, it is natural that countries in the world call up and...try to sort of indicate their concern...but the cessation of firing and military action was something which was negotiated directly between India and Pakistan," Hindustan Times quoted him as saying in the interview.

Ever since India and Pakistan agreed for ceasefire, the US President has been claiming that he brokered peace between India and Pakistan. At least, eight times, he has claimed that he stopped the Operation Sindoor and used trade for Islamabad-New Delhi to reduce the tensions.

Trump's Big Claims

During his interaction with South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday, he said, "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.

If Pak Wanted To Stop, They Have To Call Us

Responding to a question on the US's role in the ceasefire, S Jaishankar said, "We made one thing very clear to everybody who spoke to us, not just the US but to everybody, 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," he added.

The External Affairs Minister made it clear that India will only have discussions with Pakistan on ending terrorism and on the issue of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir.

He also said that India will respond in a similar way if there is another terror attack like the Pahalgam incident that killed 26 civilians. New Delhi has redefined its policy against terrorism which now says that any attack on Indian soil will be considered as an act of war.

Following the terrorist attack on April 22, India carried out strikes at 9 locations in Pakistan and the PoK, killing over 100 terrorists.

Operation Sindoor Is On

"If the terrorists are in Pakistan, we will hit them where they are. So, there is a message in continuing the operation but continuing the operation is not the same as firing on each other. Right now, there is an agreed cessation of fighting and military action," he noted.

Jaishankar claimed that Pakistani leadership has "an extreme religious outlook" and referred to Army Chief Asif Munir's remarks about Pakistan being different from India just days before the Pahalgam attack.

"Deliberately, an element of religion was introduced and to understand that you've got to see that on the Pakistani side, you have a Pakistani leadership, especially the army chief, who's very driven by an extreme religious outlook. There is clearly some connect between the views that were expressed and the behavior that was done," he stated.