Tokyo: US president Donald Trump has claimed once again that he used trade to broker peace between India and Pakistan after the four-day conflict in May.
Seven “brand-new, beautiful” aircraft were shot down during the conflict, Trump said during dinner with American and Japanese business leaders in Tokyo on Monday.
Though he had spoken about seven aircraft being destroyed during Operation Sindoor earlier, this is the first time he specified that they were “brand-new” and “beautiful”.
“If you look at India and Pakistan, they were going at it. Seven brand-new, beautiful planes were shot down,” Trump said, in a bid to explain the intensity of the conflict. He did not clarify which side had lost the aircraft though.
He went on to say that he had told Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, as well as Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir, that the US would not be doing any trade with either of the two South Asian neighbours if they did not stop fighting. His threat led to a ceasefire within 24 hours, the US president claimed.
“It was amazing, actually,” Trump said, insisting that he had used trade to avoid a larger conflict between the two nuclear-armed nations.
While Pakistan has been backing Trump’s claims of interference in the matter, India has made it clear that no third nation had any role to play in bringing the conflict to an end. Cessation of operations was announced only after the Pakistani Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) appealed to his Indian counterpart, New Delhi maintains.
This happened on May 10 after India carried out precision strikes on Pakistan Air Force bases and air defence systems, causing severe damage. India has visual evidence of the damage caused to runways and other infrastructure at the air bases.
India’s Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal A P Singh had said earlier this month that the Indian Air Force (IAF) had neutralised 11-12 aircraft of Pakistan, including F-16 and JF-17 fighter jets, during the four-day conflict. He had dismissed Pakistan’s claim of shooting down seven aircraft of India as fanciful tales.