India-Pakistan ceasefire had no role of US: MEA reiterates

The Ministry of External Affairs today reiterated that the US had no role in India-Pakistan reaching a ceasefire on May 10 and added that trade was never discussed with the US in back channel talks during operation Sindoor.

This comes in the backdrop of repeated claims by US President Donald Trump of having intervened and stopped the India-Pakistan conflict in May and also on using the threat of stopping trade as a bait to stop the conflict between the two nuclear armed neighbours.

The MEA in a written reply in Lok Sabha on Friday said India and Pakistan agreed on May 10 for a cessation of firing and military activity as a result of direct contact between the DGMOs of both nations.

This contact was initiated by the Pakistani side, Minister of State in the MEA Kirti Vardhan Singh said in the reply.

Singh said specific to the US, it was conveyed to Vice President JD Vance on May 9 that India would appropriately respond if Pakistan launched a major attack. “The issue of our trade discussions did not come up in the context of conversations pertaining to the conflict,” the response of the MEA said.

On any third party mediation, the MEA said “our longstanding position remains that any outstanding issue with Pakistan will be discussed only bilaterally. This has been made clear to all nations”.

Between April 22 — when the Pahalgam terrorist attack happened — and May 10, there were a number of diplomatic conversations with various countries at different levels, including with the United States. All interlocutors were given a common message that India’s approach was focused, measured and non-escalatory.

India had already achieved on May 8 the main objectives that it had set forth in terms of destroying designated terrorism infrastructure in Pakistan and PoK, the MEA said.