New Delhi, May 13 (UNI) A day after US President Donald Trump claimed that the US had stopped a nuclear war between New Delhi and Islamabad, India said today that the military action against Pakistan was entirely in the conventional domain. India also said the issue of trade did not come up in the discussions with US officials.
The Ministry of External Affairs said that India will “not give in to nuclear blackmail or allow cross-border terrorism to be conducted invoking it”, reiterating what PM Modi said in his national address yesterday.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, in his media briefing on the ceasefire with Pakistan, said:
“The military action (between India and Pakistan) was entirely in the conventional domain. There were some reports that Pakistan’s National Command Authority will meet on May 10. But this was later denied by them. The Pakistan Foreign Minister has himself denied the nuclear angle on record.
“As you know, India has a firm stance that it will not give in to nuclear blackmail or allow cross-border terrorism to be conducted invoking it.
“In conversations with various countries, we also cautioned that their subscribing to such scenarios could hurt them in their own region,” he added.
Yesterday, US President Trump said that the US “helped a lot” in bringing about the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, and added that the Washington had “stopped a nuclear conflict, I think it could have been a bad nuclear war”.
“On Saturday, my Administration helped broker a full and immediate ceasefire — I think a permanent one — between India and Pakistan, ending a dangerous conflict of two nations with lots of nuclear weapons… they were going out hot and heavy and were seemingly not going to stop.
“And We helped a lot!
“And we helped also with trade. I said ‘come on we’re going to do a lot of trade with you guys, let’s stop it, let’s stop it”.
“If you stop it we’re doing trade, if you don’t stop it we’re not going to do any trade... And all of a sudden, they said, I think we’re gonna stop. .And they have, and they did it for a lot of reasons but trade is a big one.
“We’re gonna do a lot of trade with Pakistan, and a lot of trade with India. We’re negotiating with India right now, were gonna soon be negotiating with Pakistan.
“And we stopped a nuclear conflict, I think it could have been a bad nuclear war. Millions of people could have been killed," the US President said.
On President Trump saying that he promised to do “a lot of trade with India and Pakistan” if they stopped the hostilities, the spokesperson said:
“From the time Operation Sindoor commenced on May 7 till the understanding on cessation of firing and military action on 10 May, there were conversations between Indian and US leaders on the evolving military situation.
“The issue of trade did not come up in any of these discussions.”
On hyphenation of India-Pakistan, the MEA spokesperson said:
“On the contrary, there is widespread understanding in the world that Indian tourists were the victims of terrorism at Pahalgam and that the epicentre of terrorism is across the border in Pakistan.
“A number of foreign leaders in their conversations with Indian counterparts recognised India’s right to defend itself and protect its people.
“I also draw your attention to the UN Security Council press statement of 25 April which states that “the need to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of this reprehensible act of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice. They stressed that those responsible for these killings should be held accountable.”
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