Shehbaz Sharif Seeks Trump's Facilitation As Tharoor-led Delegation Exposes Pakistan In US

News18

2 days ago

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Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif praised Trump for his role in helping de-escalate the situation with India and urged Washington to facilitate a dialogue between the two nations.
Amid Indian delegations' global outreach against terrorism, Pakistan is making an all-out effort to seek the help of US President Donald Trump to try and achieve peace with India. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif praised Trump for his role in helping de-escalate the situation with India and urged Washington to facilitate a comprehensive dialogue between the two nuclear neighbours.
Addressing an event at the US Embassy in Islamabad, the Pakistan PM echoed former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who stated that Trump 'deserves credit" for helping facilitate the cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan.
'On 10 different occasions, he has taken credit for facilitating the ceasefire between India and Pakistan — and rightly so. He deserves that credit because it was his efforts that helped make the ceasefire possible. So, if the US is willing to help Pakistan in maintaining this ceasefire, it is reasonable to expect that an American role in arranging a comprehensive dialogue would also be beneficial for us," Bhutto said.
Meanwhile, India publicly denied role of US President Trump in achieving the ceasefire agreement with Pakistan. New Delhi has consistently rejected third-party mediation on bilateral issues.
'I think the US has understood for some time now that India has a very clear position that there will be no talks with a gun pointed at our head… The problem is that we will not deal with people who are pointing a gun at our heads. I mean frankly, if your neighbour unleashes his Rottweilers* to bite your children and in fact to do worse to your children, and then says, let's talk," said Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who is leading the all-party delegation to the United States.
'You think he's going to talk to him until he either unleashes those Rottweilers* or locks them up in a kennel or puts them to sleep. It's as simple as that. You're not going to talk to people who are pointing guns at your temples. It's not going to happen," he added.
The Indian delegation also slammed the Pakistani side for claiming that it was as much a victim of terrorism as India was.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said, 'This (Pakistan) delegation is going around saying we are also victims of terrorism, we have lost more lives to terrorism than India has. We turn around and say- Whose fault is that? As Hillary Clinton famously said 10 years ago. You can't breed vipers in your backyard and expect them to bite only your neighbours…That's why they (Pakistan) are now getting terrorists attacked by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, but who created the Taliban from which the Tehrik-i-Taliban broke off? We all know the answer to that, so let Pakistan look inside it and let it do some serious interior reflection before it goes around pleading innocence and deniability and everything else."
(With agency inputs)
First Published:
June 05, 2025, 13:35 IST