Washington: US President Donald Trump refrained from taking credit for preventing a potential war between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the April 22 Pahalgam attack and subsequent escalated tension between the neighbours. For the first time in some weeks, Trump instead said the two “very smart” leaders had themselves decided to avoid escalation.
Trump made the remarks during an interaction with reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday. This statement came after he hosted Pakistan’s Army chief General Asim Munir for lunch at the White House.
“The reason I had him here, I want to thank him for not going into the war, ending the war. And I want to thank, as you know, Prime Minister Modi just left a little while ago, and we’re working on a trade deal with India. We’re working on a trade deal with Pakistan,” said Trump.
Apparently referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and General Asim Munir, Trump said he was glad the leaders of India and Pakistan, chose to step back from a conflict.
“They were both here, but I was with Modi a few weeks ago. He was here actually, but now we speak to him. And I’m so happy that two smart people, plus you know, people on their staff too, but two smart people, two very smart people decided not to keep going with that war. That could have been a nuclear war. Those are two nuclear powers, big ones, big, big nuclear powers, and they decided that,” he added.
However, in the past, Trump had repeatedly claimed that he “helped settle” tensions between India and Pakistan. He had also said he told the two nuclear-armed neighbours that America would do “a lot of trade” with them if they stopped the conflict.
Trump was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis, Canada, but he returned to Washington ahead of schedule. Before his departure, Modi and Trump held a 35-minute phone call. This marked their first formal conversation since the ceasefire between India and Pakistan was announced.
In a video message from Kananaskis, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said Modi clearly conveyed to Trump that at “no point” during Operation Sindoor was there any discussion, at any level, about an India-US trade agreement. He also ruled out that there was any proposal for American mediation between India and Pakistan.
Misri added that Modi firmly stated India would never accept third-party mediation as it had full political consensus within the country.