After phone call with PM Modi, Trump again claims US stopped India-Pak war

Within hours of Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveying there was ‘no mediation’ from the US in stopping the India-Pak skirmish last month, US President Donald Trump reiterated on Wednesday that “I stopped the war”.  

Trump was speaking to reporters and was asked what would he achieve diplomatically by inviting Pakistan Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir for lunch at the White House, he responded, “I stopped a war between Pakistan and India. This man (Munir) was influential in stopping the war from the Pakistan side and Modi from the Indian side”.

He added, “I stopped war between two major nuclear … I love Pakistan and Modi is a fantastic man, I spoke to him last night. We are going make a trade deal with Modi of India”

Trump went on to ask reporters if they wrote a news item on how the war was stopped.

On Wednesday morning, the Ministry of External Affairs released a transcript of what Modi spoke to Trump. It said, “The Prime Minister made it clear to President Trump that during this entire episode (May 7-10), at no time, at any level, were issues such as India-US trade deal or mediation by the US between India and Pakistan discussed”.

The decision to halt military action was discussed directly between India and Pakistan through existing channels of the two armies, and was at the request of Pakistan.

“India has never accepted mediation, does not accept it, and will never accept it. There is complete political unanimity in India on this issue,” Modi told Trump.