Did Pakistan just admit the US helped it in securing a ceasefire with India during Operation Sindoor? A readout of what Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir discussed with US President Donald Trump indicated the American leader played quite a role in initiating the ceasefire-according to Pakistan.
India has several times denied claims that Mr Trump had a hand in brokering the ceasefire after its airstrikes on terror and military infrastructure in Pakistan, following the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 tourists in April.
The US president, however, has been speaking in the same voice as Pakistan’s leaders with the claim that he was one of the reasons why the two nuclear-armed neighbours agreed to a ceasefire and stopped tension from escalating.
The Pakistani statement said: “Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir met with US President Donald J Trump at the Oval Office today. The Prime Minister lauded President Trump’s bold, courageous and decisive leadership for facilitating the Pakistan-India ceasefire and praised his initiative to invite key Muslim world leaders in efforts to bring an immediate end to the conflict in Gaza and restore peace in the Middle East.”
“The leaders discussed enhancing the bilateral partnership, with the Prime Minister inviting US investment in Pakistan’s key sectors and stressing the need to further enhance security and intelligence cooperation. The Prime Minister also extended a warm and cordial invitation to President Trump to undertake an official visit to Pakistan, at his convenience,” the Pakistani statement said.
Right from Day 1 of the ceasefire, India has always maintained it was Pakistan’s top military officer who contacted his Indian counterpart to end hostilities and make peace.
When that communication came, India had already destroyed several key terror infrastructure in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) and military targets like hangar, radar, anti-aircraft platforms, and even a highly prized airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft while it was on the ground.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio contacted him to say “the Pakistanis are ready to talk”, after which Pakistan’s Director-General of Military Operations reached out to India.
“There was no call between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump between April 22 (the Pahalgam terror attack) and June 17 (the date the ceasefire was announced),” Mr Jaishankar said in parliament recently during a debate on Operation Sindoor.
Unlike the 2016 Uri surgical strikes, 2019 Balakot airstrikes, or other past Indian operations which were limited in scale and scope, Operation Sindoor was technologically robust, expansive and unlike any mission India has ever carried out. The move to strike deep into Pakistan-occupied territory revealed one thing: a departure from prior doctrine.
Operation Sindoor is still going on; India’s forces will strike anywhere from where terror comes, the government has said. The operation was not only the most expansive cross-border strike conducted by India since the Balakot operation, but also represented an evolution in India’s strategic posture.
After intelligence agencies linked the Pahalgam attackers to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistan-based terrorist organisation with a long track record of targeting Indian civilians and security forces, India struck nine locations across Pakistan and PoK including Muzaffarabad, Kotli, Bahawalpur, Rawalakot, Chakswari, Bhimber, Neelum Valley, Jhelum, and Chakwal.
The total number of missile strikes stood at 24, making this the most extensive single-day precision operation India has ever executed.
