KO file photo by Faisal Khan
New Delhi- The Government of India has dismissed claims of U.S. interference in the recent ceasefire between India and Pakistan, asserting that the decision to halt military operations was based on India’s own strategic objectives, particularly targeting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK).
In a written response to a question in the Lok Sabha, the Ministry of External Affairs said that India and Pakistan agreed on May 10 for a cessation of firing and military activity as a result of “direct contact” between the director generals of military operations (DGMOs) of both nations, which was “initiated by the Pakistani side”.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) was asked whether it is a fact that the “ceasefire between India and Pakistan was arrived at the behest of the US interference just after three days of operations against Pakistan when the Indian Armed Forces had the upper hand in the conflict”.
The reply said that India had destroyed the designated terror camps linked to the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir, by May 8, two days before the ceasefire came into effect. This, the government said, was a “focused, measured and non-escalatory” response, carried out with clarity and restraint.
While the government acknowledged that diplomatic interactions took place with multiple countries, including the United States, it strongly denied that any external power influenced India’s decision to stop the operations.
“The issue of trade discussions did not come up in any conversations related to the conflict,” the government said in response to speculation that the U.S. linked trade concessions to the ceasefire.
On May 9, just a day before the ceasefire, India informed U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance that it would respond decisively if Pakistan escalated the situation.
The Ministry also reaffirmed India’s consistent policy that there will be no third-party mediation on the Kashmir issue. “All outstanding issues with Pakistan will be discussed bilaterally,” it stated, adding that even Prime Minister Modi had conveyed this directly to the U.S. President.
As regards any proposal for third-party mediation, “our long standing position remains that any outstanding issue with Pakistan will be discussed only bilaterally. This has been made clear to all nations, including by the Prime Minister to the US President”, the Minister said.
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