‘US Did Call Up, But Ceasefire Was Negotiated Directly Between India and Pakistan': Jaishankar

The Wire

26-05-2025

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar with Netherlands Foreign Affairs Minister Caspar Veldkamp during a meeting, in The Hague, Netherlands. Photo: PTI
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New Delhi: External affairs minister S. Jaishankar has said that while the United States did reach out to India during the recent conflict with Pakistan after Operation Sindoor, the cessation of firing and military action was 'something which was negotiated directly between India and Pakistan.'
In an interview with Dutch news broadcaster NOS, Jaishankar said that the history of Pakistan is that it has used terrorism across the border as a way of trying to pressurise India.
'Well, the US was in the United States. I mean, obviously there were… US… Secretary of State Rubio and Vice President Vance had called up. Rubio had spoken to me. Vance had spoken to our prime minister. You know they had their view and they were talking to us and they were talking to the Pakistanis as indeed were some other countries. I mean the United States was not alone in this…,' Jaishankar told the interviewer, during his recent visit to Netherlands.
'When two countries are engaged in a conflict it is natural that countries in the world call up and ask and try to indicate concern and what they can do in such a situation. But the ceasefire, the cessation of firing and military action was something which was negotiated directly between India and Pakistan,' he added.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump had claimed to have mediated a ceasefire between the two countries. Since then, Trump has continued to claim credit including saying he used trade as leverage to avoid a nuclear conflict.
But India had rejected Trump's account of ceasefire with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on May 13 publicly asserting that the decision to halt hostilities followed Indian military action that compelled Pakistan to stand down.
Jaishankar reiterated this in the interview with NOS.
'We have a mechanism to talk to each other, a hotline'
'You know we have a mechanism to talk to each other, a hotline. So on the 10th of May it was a Pakistani army which sent a message that they were ready to stop firing and we responded accordingly,' said Jaishankar.
'So they've (Pakistan) also pursued a radical, I would say extremist religious agenda using terrorism across the border as a way of trying to pressurise us. This has been their history. Now if you ask me how do we propose to deal with it? We propose to deal with it bilaterally with the Pakistanis. It is something that we and the Pakistanis have to settle one-to-one,' said Jaishankar.
Jaishankar also said that since 1947, Pakistan has illegally occupied a part of Kashmir.
'No, because you know Kashmir is part of India. No country negotiates a part of its territory. So for us Kashmir is part of India. There is one segment of Kashmir which is today under occupation of Pakistan illegally since 1947-48. So we are… you know we would like to discuss with them when they propose to leave that part and hand it back,' said Jaishankar.
When the interviewer asked if Trump has no role to play in this, Jaishankar said, 'It is something between us and the Pakistanis. Now his rationale in offering seems to be if you put aside those conflicts – he doesn't like conflicts – you can get rich together.'
'India's security challenges far more threatening'
Jaishankar said that India's security challenges were far more threatening than those of European countries and thus India had to prioritise security.
'Look at the end of the day growth comes from strong fundamentals. You know fine, I mean we've had whatever we've had, the conflict over the last few weeks but I think you know the fundamentals of India's growth, the fact that today we are heading to be a 4 trillion economy, we have, you know, as I say we are in a bandwidth of 6 to 8% growth rate for decades ahead of us, we have very sound demographics in our favour,' said Jaishankar.
Jaishankar also spoke on the Pahalgam attack and said that it was intended to create religious discord.
'It started because it was triggered by a very barbaric terrorist attack in the Indian Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir where 26 tourists were murdered in front of their families after ascertaining their faith and it was done in a way in which it was intended to harm tourism which is the mainstay of the Kashmir economy and to create religious discord deliberately,' said Jaishankar.
'And to understand that you've got to also see that on the Pakistani side you have a Pakistani leadership, especially the army chief, who's very driven by extreme religious outlook. So there is clearly some connect between the views that were expressed and the behaviour that was done,' he added.
Jaishankar said that India knows that the attackers were linked to the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and along with the command centres of the terrorist groups, which were hit on May 7.