Truce reached bilaterally: Khurshid deviates from Cong stance on US role

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"There was neither interference, nor mediation by anyone. But when such things happen in the world, different people try to send a message. Whatever happened, happened between the two nations," said Khurshid, who later on Wednesday joined the government's multi-party delegation to South East and East Asia.

Although the government had included Khurshid in the global outreach plan, the Congress had not named him in its official list of nominees.

Khurshid, along with his other colleagues Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari and Amar Singh have joined the multi-party delegations, although none of them was named by the Congress.

The party has been questioning the ruling BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on repeated claims of mediation by US President Donald Trump. However, the Congress leader echoed the official stance of the government that the pause on hostilities was reached bilaterally, following the Pakistan DGMO's initiative.

"They (Pakistan) said we should end this. We said it should be done, if they are ready," Khursid said on Wednesday after attending a briefing by Foreign secretary Vikram Misri.

When asked why he was diverging from the Congress stance, Khurshid in a lighter vein, said, "Do you want me to join the delegation or not?"

The Congress leader added that domestic politics was one thing, but representing the nation abroad and speaking on its behalf was quite another.

Khurshid today joined the multi-party delegation, led by JD (U) MP Sanjay Jha to South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore as part of New Delhi's global outreach on Operation Sindoor and Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. This delegation consists of BJP MPs Aparajita Sarangi, Brijlal, Pradhan Barua and Hemang Joshi, Congress' Salman Khurshid, TMC's Abhishek Banerjee, CPM's John Brittas and former ambassador Mohan Kumar.

Meanwhile, another delegation, led by Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde, left for the UAE, Liberia, Congo and Sierra Leone later on Wednesday.

India had launched Operation Sindoor after the Pahalgam attack, destroying nine terror hubs in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.