‘India agreed to ceasefire only after Pakistan’s request, no US trade link’: Jaishankar in Parliament

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday clarified that India agreed to the recent ceasefire only after a formal request came through the Pakistani side and dismissed any suggestion of external influence, especially from the United States, in the decision-making process.

Referring to the recent military exchange, Jaishankar said, “On May 9, US Vice President JD Vance called Prime Minister Narendra Modi warning of a massive Pakistani attack in the next few hours. The Prime Minister made it clear that if such an attack occurred, it would be met with an appropriate response.”

He confirmed that the attack took place on the night of May 9-10 but was “foiled by our Armed Forces.” Jaishankar further stated that India delivered a “devastating” response, referring to visible satellite images of Pakistani airfields post-strike, which had been widely circulated.

Rebuffing claims of US involvement in brokering a ceasefire, Jaishankar asserted, “At no stage in any conversation with the US was there any linkage with trade in what was going on. Secondly, there was no call between the Prime Minister and President Trump between April 22 and June 17.”

He said that India only considered the ceasefire after receiving an impression through diplomatic channels that Pakistan wanted to stop fighting, but the Modi government insisted that a formal request had to come via the DGMO (Director General of Military Operations) route.

Notably, US president Donald Trump has multiple times claimed that he brokered a ceasefire deal between India and Pakistan, a claim which has been repeatedly denied by the Indian government.

Following Jaishankar's clarification on the ceasefire, Opposition MPs began protesting and raising slogans, after which Union Home Minister Amit Shah rose to defend the government. "Why do you place more faith in a foreign leader’s claim than in our own External Affairs Minister," he asked the Oppostion members in a tough tone.

Jaishankar hit back at Opposition leaders questioning the timing of the ceasefire and India's decision not to go beyond, saying, “Who is asking why we stopped at this point? Why did you not go further? These are those people who after 26/11 felt that the best action is inaction."

The EAM referenced India-Pakistan's joint statement of 2009 in Egypt's Sharm-el-Sheikh where then PM Manmohan SIngh and his Pakistani counterpart Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani agreed that "terrorism is the main threat to both countries".

"Today people are saying America is hyphenating you, Russia is hyphenating you. But you [Opposition] hyphenated India-Pakistan yourself. And worst of all, you accepted a reference to Balochistan back then," he said.

Citing India’s decisive retaliatory strikes that allegedly took out terror infrastructure in Bahawalpur and Muridke, Jaishankar said, “People who did nothing then have the temerity today to question a government that did so much.”