US President Donald Trump Has Claimed to Mediating Talks Between India and Pakistan During the Sindoor Operation 

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Operation Sindoor comes to the spotlight again as the Pakistan PM echoes US President Donald Trump’s claim of mediating the ceasefire. As per reports, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, on his ongoing US visit, agreed to the claims of the US President in the White House. A readout mentioned “the American leader played quite a role in initiating the ceasefire.”

India has multiple times denied claims of Donald Trump initiating the ceasefire.

What Pakistan Told About the Ceasefire

In a recent update, the Pakistani statement read: "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."

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"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 added further.

Pak Deputy Prime Minister Recollects Bilateral Talks

Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Pakistan's deputy prime minister, said on Tuesday in an interview that Islamabad raised the issue of third-party mediation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to which the US official responded that India does not support outside involvement.

"Incidentally, when the ceasefire offer came through, Secretary Rubio spoke to me on the 10th of May... I was told that there would be a dialogue between Pakistan and India at an independent place... When we met on the 25th of July during a bilateral meeting with Secretary Rubio in Washington, I asked him 'What happened to those dialogues?', he said, ‘India says that it is a bilateral issue," Dar said.

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India’s Version of Ceasefire

Since the ceasefire in May, India has always maintained it was Pakistan's top military officer who contacted his Indian counterpart to end hostilities and make peace.

Before that communication, India had already massacred a couple of key terror infrastructure in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) and military targets like hangars, radars, anti-aircraft platforms, and even a highly prized airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft.

Following the attacks by the Pakistan-based terrorist organisation, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), killing 26 tourists, India struck nine locations across Pakistan and PoK, including Muzaffarabad, Kotli, Bahawalpur, Rawalakot, Chakswari, Bhimber, Neelum Valley, Jhelum, and Chakwal.

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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 May 10 (the date the ceasefire was announced)," Mr Jaishankar said in parliament recently during a debate on Operation Sindoor.

Kashmir, Not on Trump’s Agenda

A senior US State Department official has said that Kashmir is a "direct issue between India and Pakistan, and the US has no interest in asserting itself between the two countries on the affair.”

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"We continue to see India and Pakistan in two separate ways, seeing them on their own in the relationship, looking at an America First policy that advances our interest," the official said.

While Trump has repeated his claim of mediating talks between neighbouring nations, India has denied any involvement of the US during that time. Experts believe that India’s denial of Trump’s claim is the main reason behind aggressive trade tariffs.