New Delhi: Even as his party continues to accuse the BJP government at the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of bowing to pressure from US president Donald Trump and halting Operation Sindoor, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said that India required no persuading as its goal had been achieved on the first day itself.
On May 10, soon after India announced cessation of firing at targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Trump claimed that it was he who had brokered peace between the two countries.
The Congress, including MP and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, was quick to latch on to Trump’s claim and accuse Modi of being weak. Parallels were drawn between him and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who had defied the US during the 1971 War against Pakistan.
“We never needed persuading because on day one of 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.
Operation Sindoor was launched by India on May 7, in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 26 innocent tourists from across the country. On the first day of the Operation, India carried out precise strikes on terror facilities in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Care was taken not to harm civilian or military infrastructure.
India halted operations on May 10 after a request from Pakistan. 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.
Tharoor said that though Trump did not speak to India about a ceasefire, there is every reason to be grateful if Washington persuaded Islamabad to halt the escalation. India never asked for any mediation as it does not believe anyone can mediate between it and Pakistan, the Thiruvananthapuram MP said.
“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.
While Trump has been continuing to maintain that he mediated in the matter, PM Modi has made it clear in Parliament during the monsoon session that no leader of any country asked India to stop Operation Sindoor.