"We never needed persuading…": Shashi Tharoor rejects Trump's claim of brokering 'ceasefire' between India and Pakistan

New Delhi [India], September 23 (ANI): Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has repudiated US President Donald Trump’s repeated assertion of brokering a “ceasefire” between India and Pakistan, saying India never needed persuading because, through Operation Sindoor, the country’s target was terror infrastructure in Pakistan that was achieved on the first day of the operation.

“We never needed persuading because day one of the Operation Sindoor, we said we are only targeting the terrorists. If Pakistan hits us, we will hit them back, and if they stop, we will stop. So, the day the Pakistanis called our DGMO (Director General of Military Operations) and said, ‘we wanted to call it off, ‘ we said fine,” Tharoor said in an interview with ANI.

India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians.

India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.

India has been consistently maintaining that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries.

The Congress leader, however, said that if Washington persuaded Islamabad to halt the escalation, then India has every reason to be grateful, adding that India did not ask for it, as it does not believe anyone can mediate between it and Pakistan.

“If Washington persuaded Islamabad or Rawalpindi to stop, then we have every reason to be grateful, and perhaps that is something we may be overlooking. And our objections to what Trump is saying are that we don’t know what went on between Washington and Islamabad. Maybe Trump lent very heavily on Pakistani generals and said, ‘Do not escalate your retaliations because we want peace with you and India’ for whatever reason. If they did that, then we should certainly say, ‘we appreciate that even though we did not ask for it. And we did not ask for it because we don’t believe anyone mediating between us and Pakistan,” he said.

On May 10, President Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington. He has repeated this claim several times since then.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing the Parliament during the monsoon session, had said that no leader of any country asked India to stop Operation Sindoor. (ANI)

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