By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump on Monday has repeated his claims that he stopped the escalation of the India-Pakistan conflict after the Pahalgam terror attack by threatening that the US will stop trade with New Delhi and Islamabad unless the two neighbors agreed to end hostilities.
Trump stated “We stopped a lot of fights, very, very big one was India and Pakistan. We stopped that over trade. We are dealing with India and Pakistan. We said that we are not going to be dealing with you at all if you are gonna fight. They were maybe at a nuclear stage…Stopping that was really important.”
He had reiterated his claim of brokering peace between India and Pakistan during Operation Sindoor and said he stopped “the war between the two nuclear nations”.
He lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi, terming him a “fantastic man”.
“Well, I stopped the war between Pakistan. I love Pakistan. I think PM Modi is a fantastic man; I spoke to him last night. We will have a trade deal with PM Modi of India. I stopped the war between Pakistan and India,” Trump said.
He was speaking at a flagpole installation event at the White House’s South Lawn.
Trump was asked about his upcoming meeting with the Pakistani Army Chief General Asim Munir.
“This man (Asim Munir) was extremely influential in stopping the war from the Pakistani side. PM Modi from the Indian side and others. And they are going at it. Both are nuclear countries. They’ve got to stop. I stopped a war between two major nuclear nations. I don’t think I had a story written on it,” Trump said.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said in a statement earlier that during a phone call between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump, the former conveyed India’s determination to take action against terrorism to the whole world.
Mr. Modi said India had only targeted the terrorist camps and hideouts in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. India’s actions were very measured, precise, and non-escalatory. India had also made it clear that any act of aggression from Pakistan would be met with a stronger response.
On the night of May 9-10, India gave a strong and decisive response to Pakistan’s attack, inflicting significant damage on the Pakistani military. Their military air bases were rendered inoperable. Due to India’s firm action, Pakistan was compelled to request a cessation of military operations.
Misri said PM Modi clearly conveyed to President Trump that at no point during this entire sequence of events was there any discussion, at any level, on an India-US Trade Deal, or any proposal for a mediation by the US between India and Pakistan.
