Jaishankar counters Congress, denies Trump’s trade claim on ceasefire

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday asserted that at no stage in any conversation with the US was there any linkage of trade with halting of Operation Sindoor and said there was no call between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump between April 22 and June 17.

Jaishankar referred to the two phone calls between Trump and Modi, with the first one being on April 22, when the US President conveyed sympathies for the Pahalgam terror attack, and the second one on June 17, when he called the PM to explain that he could not meet him in Canada.

Intervening in the special discussion in the Lok Sabha on 'India's strong, successful and decisive Operation Sindoor in response to the terror attack in Pahalgam', the senior BJP leader also said the result of India's diplomacy post-Pahalgam attack was that only three out of 190 nations which are part of the UN opposed Operation Sindoor. There was overwhelming support that the country which has been attacked has the right to defend itself, he said.

Jaishankar said India's military action against Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack marked a "new normal" in combating cross-border terrorism with a five-point approach that included firm response to terrorist acts, not yielding to nuclear blackmail and blood and water cannot flow together.

Though a combative Jaishankar took on the previous Congress governments on a range of issues including on 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, policy on China as well as Pakistan, the major highlight of his nearly 40-minute address was his articulation of the new normal in combating cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan.

"The challenge of cross-border terrorism continues but Operation Sindoor marks a new phase. There is now a new normal. The new normal has five points," Jaishankar said.

Explaining the new normal, he added, "One -- terrorists will not be treated as proxies, two -- cross-border terrorism will get an appropriate response, three -- terror and talks are not possible together and there will only be talks on terror, four -- not yielding to nuclear blackmail, and finally -- terror and good neighbourliness cannot co-exist, blood and water cannot flow together. This is our position."

The external affairs minister also called for a united approach within India in dealing with terrorism, saying it was best reflected when parliamentary delegations visited various countries to apprise them of Operation Sindoor and India's policy on terrorism.

Jaishankar pointed out that The Resistance Front (TRF) group had been designated as a global terror organisation by the US due to Indian diplomacy.

Narrating the events during the conflict between India and Pakistan, he said that on May 9, US Vice President J D Vance called the PM, warning of Pakistan's massive attack in the next few hours, he said.

"PM Modi made it very clear that if that happens, it would be met with an appropriate response from our side. That massive attack took place, and it was foiled by our armed forces.

"On May 10, we received phone calls sharing the impression of other countries that Pakistan was ready to cease the fighting. Our position was that if Pakistan was ready, we needed to get this as a request from the Pakistani side through the DGMO channel. That is exactly how that request came," Jaishankar said.

"I want to make two things very clear. One, at no stage in any conversation with the US was there any linkage with trade and what was going on. Secondly, there was no call between the prime minister and President Trump from April 22 -- when President Trump called up to convey his sympathy -- till June 17, when he called up the PM who was in Canada to explain why he could not meet," he said.

Talking about the post-Pahalgam actions of the government, Jaishankar said that the Cabinet Committee on Security had decided that the Indus Waters Treaty would be held in abeyance until Pakistan abjures its support for terrorism, along with a host of other steps.

"It was very clear that after these steps, India's response to the Pahalgam attack will not stop there. Our responsibility from a foreign policy approach was to shape the global understanding of the Pahalgam attack," he said.

Jaishankar said that Indian diplomacy then tried to bring out Pakistan's long-standing support to terrorism and how the Pahalgam attack was targeted at Jammu and Kashmir's economy and sow communal discord.

"Messages were two -- zero tolerance for terrorism and the right to defend our people against terrorists. All diplomatic briefings were aimed at these two objectives," he said.

Jaishankar's remarks came after Congress' Deputy Leader in the House Gaurav Gogoi slammed the government over US President Donald Trump's claim made "26 times", that he used trade to bring about a ceasefire between India and Pakistan.

The Congress has been repeatedly attacking the government over Trump's remarks. Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a full and immediate ceasefire after a long night of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim on several occasions that he helped settle the tensions between India and Pakistan.

However, India has been consistently maintaining that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries.