S Jaishankar dismisses Donald Trump’s claims of ceasefire: ‘No linkage of trade with Operation Sindoor, no call between PM Modi, Trump’

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday asserted that at no stage in any conversation with the US was there any linkage of trade with Operation Sindoor and the request for halting the military action came from the Pakistani side through the DGMO channel. Jaishankar pointed out that The Resistance Front (TRF) group had been designated as a global terror organisation by the US due to Indian diplomacy. “On May 10, we received phone calls sharing the impression of other countries that Pakistan was ready to cease the fighting. Our position was that if Pakistan was ready, we needed to get this as a request from the Pakistani side through the DGMO channel. That is exactly how that request came,” Jaishankar said.

“I want to make two things very clear -- at no stage in any conversation with the US was there any linkage with trade and what was going on. Second, there was no call between the prime minister and President Trump from April 22 -- when President Trump called up to convey his sympathy -- till June 17, when he called up the PM who was in Canada,” he said.

Intervening in the special discussion in the Lok Sabha on 'India's strong, successful and decisive Operation Sindoor in response to the terror attack in Pahalgam', Jaishankar said it was important to send a clear, strong and resolute message after the Pahalgam attack as "our red lines had been crossed and we had to make it very apparent that there would be serious consequences". He said that there was an overwhelming support that the country which has been attacked has the right to defend itself.

Hailing the government's diplomatic efforts post-Pahalgam attack, the EAM said, “What we tried to create was a narrative and prepare the diplomacy for launch of Operation Sindoor. The result of that diplomacy was that out of the 190 nations of UN only three, besides Pakistan, opposed Operation Sindoor. “Overwhelmingly, there was recognition that terror was unacceptable and the country which has been attacked has the right to defend itself and India was doing exactly that,” Jaishankar said.

Talking about the post-Pahalgam actions of the government, Jaishankar said that the Cabinet Committee on Security had decided that the Indus Waters Treaty would be held in abeyance until Pakistan abjures its support for terrorism, along with a host of other steps.

“It was very clear that after the steps, India's response to the Pahalgam attack will not stop there. Our responsibility from a foreign policy approach was to shape the global understanding of the Pahalgam attack,” he said.

Jaishankar said that Indian diplomacy then tried to bring out Pakistan's long-standing support to terrorism and how the Pahalgam attack was targeted at Jammu and Kashmir's economy and sowing communal discord. "Messages were two -- zero tolerance for terrorism and right to defend our people against terrorists. All diplomatic briefing was aimed at these two objectives," he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from PTI)