'India never agreed to any third-party mediation': Pakistan's BIG admission punctures Trump's ceasefire claims
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "'India never agreed to any third-party mediation': Pakistan's BIG admission punctures Trump's ceasefire claims")
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar Photograph: (Reuters)
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar admitted India never agreed to third-party mediation, backing India's stance on bilateral talks. This counters Trump’s claim of brokering a ceasefire post-Operation Sindoor. India maintains the understanding was bilateral, with no U.S. mediation involved.
In a massive public admission, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, in an interview, said that India never agreed to any third-party mediation and has always maintained that India and Pakistan's issues should be addressed bilaterally. This comes amid US President Donald Trump’s continuous claim that he had brokered a ceasefire deal between India and Pakistan after Operation Sindoor. Dar said that the Pakistani side was specifically told by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that India will speak about all issues, including the Indus Waters Treaty, bilaterally.
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In an interview with Al Jazeera, Dar said, "India never agreed to any third-party mediation," adding that while Pakistan is open to dialogue with India, New Delhi has not responded. He also said: "We don't mind third-party involvement, but India has categorically been stating it's a bilateral matter. We don't mind bilateral, but the dialogues have to be comprehensive, on terrorism, trade, economy, Jammu and Kashmir, all subjects that we have discussed earlier." Dar was responding to the question of whether any negotiations were happening with India. “Is there any third party involved? Are you open to third-party involvement?”
Proving India's statement that the US contacted India and Pakistan after Operation Sindoor and increased tensions in May, Dar said, “When I met Rubio on July 25 in Washington, I asked him what happened to the dialogue. He said that India says that it is a bilateral issue.” "If any country wants dialogue, we are happy..It takes two to tango. Unless India wishes to have a dialogue, we can't force dialogue," he added.
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Trump's ceasefire claims vs India's stance
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India, in response to the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, launched Operation Sindoor and hit terror targets inside Pakistan, killing as many as 100 terrorists. Hostilities rose between the two nations in the two days that followed. A ceasefire understanding was reached between the DGMOs of both countries after the Pakistani DGMO contacted the Indian counterpart. However, Trump has claimed several times that it was he who used trade to convince India and Pakistan to stop hostilities, claiming that war was on the verge of getting nuclear.
India has categorically rejected the claims made by the US president. India said that the understanding reached between the two nations was bilateral and no third-party mediation was involved. India said that they received calls from US Vice President JD Vance and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and they were told that any request for a ceasefire should come from the Pakistani side and not any other country. It was after this that the Pakistani DGMO contacted the Indian counterpart, and an understanding was reached. India's Ministry of External Affairs has also said that trade was not used in the conversation.
