Boast and backlash: Counting Trump’s ceasefire claims and India’s unyielding denials

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, during the Lok Sabha debate on Operation Sindoor on Monday, firmly dismissed suggestions that New Delhi’s military pause against Pakistan was influenced by foreign pressure, calling such claims “completely incorrect and baseless.”

Without naming US President Donald Trump directly, Singh said military operations had ceased only after Indian forces had achieved their “overall politico-military objectives.”

He added that the decision followed a request from Pakistan’s Director-General of Military Operations.

“The objective of Operation Sindoor was to destroy the terror nurseries raised by Pakistan over the years,” Singh said, referencing the campaign launched after the Pahalgam terror attack.

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Singh’s remarks come in the wake of a flurry of claims by Trump, who — between May 10 and July 28 — publicly took credit at least 20 times for brokering a ceasefire between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi said that President Trump has claimed 29 times that he helped bring about the India-Pakistan ceasefire. If this is not true, the Prime Minister should clarify it in the Lok Sabha, he added.

Every time Trump said he helped stop the conflict, India denied it.

After Rajnath Singh, Jaishankar, during a debate on Operation Sindoor on Monday, also vehemently asserted that Washington did not play any role in ending the India-Pakistan conflict in May and said there was no phone call between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Trump during those crucial weeks.

“I want to make two things very clear- one, at no stage, in any conversation with the United States, was there any linkage with trade and what was going on,” he said.

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“Secondly, there was no talk between the Prime Minister and President Trump from the April 22 (on the day of Pahalgam attack) when President (Donald) Trump called up to convey his sympathy, and on June 17, when he called up the prime minister in Canada to explain why he could not meet,” Jaishankar added.

On June 17, Prime Minister Narendra Modi clarified to President Trump in a phone call that the United States had no role in brokering the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, and that there had been no talks about a US-India trade deal during the tensions.

PM Modi also turned down Trump’s invitation to stop in Washington, D.C., on his return from the G7 Summit in Canada, citing a prior commitment to visit Croatia on June 18.

Shedding light on the 35-minute conversation, which came at Trump’s request, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said, “PM Modi clearly told President Trump that during the entire course of events, at no point, and at no level, was there any discussion about a US-India trade deal or about US mediation between India and Pakistan.”

This was the first conversation between the two leaders since India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, and came hours ahead of a meeting between Pakistan’s Army Chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Trump.

“The Prime Minister said the talks regarding cessation of military action were held directly between India and Pakistan under the existing channels established between both militaries. It was done at Pakistan’s request,” Misri further said.

Trump was the first to announce the India-Pakistan ceasefire on social media, claiming credit for brokering the deal. He continued to repeat this claim in the following weeks, even as India consistently denied that the US had played any role in the agreement.

Here’s a list of statements by the US President on the India-Pakistan conflict so far:

• 10 May: “After a long night of talks mediated by the United States, I am pleased to announce that India and Pakistan have agreed to a FULL AND IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE."

• 11 May: “I am proud that the USA was able to help you arrive at this historic and heroic decision. While not even discussed, I am going to increase trade substantially with both of these great nations. Additionally, I will work with you both to see if, after a ‘thousand years,’ a solution can be arrived at concerning Kashmir.”

• 12 May: “We stopped a nuclear conflict. I think it could have been a bad nuclear war.”

• 13 May: “…My administration successfully brokered a historic ceasefire to stop the escalating violence between India and Pakistan. I used trade to a large extent… And they both have very powerful leaders, strong leaders.”

• 14 May: “We convinced them… Let’s go and make trade deals. If we can make trade deals, we like that much better than nuclear weapons.”

• 15 May: “We talked to them about trade. Let’s do trade instead of war. Pakistan was very happy with that and India was very happy with that… They’ve been fighting for about a 1000 years. I said I could settle that up.”

• 17 May: “Those are major nuclear powers… It was getting deeper and more missiles. Everyone was stronger. Where the next one ’s going to be, you know what? The N word. I think they were very close… I said we’re going to talk about trade. We’re going to do a lot of trade.”

• 22 May: “If you take a look at what we just did with Pakistan and India — we settled that whole thing. I settled it through trade. We’re doing a big deal with India. We’re doing a big deal with Pakistan.”

• 30 May: “We stopped India and Pakistan from fighting. I believe that could have turned out into a nuclear disaster. We talk trade… We can’t trade with people who are shooting at each other and potentially using nuclear weapons.”

• 31 May: “We were able to stop potentially a nuclear war through trade as opposed through bullets. You know, normally they do it through bullets. We do it through trade. We had a very nasty potential war going on between Pakistan and India.”

• 06 June: “We solved a big problem, a nuclear problem potentially with India and Pakistan. I talked about trade and said, we are not doing trade if you guys are going to be throwing bombs at each other. They both stopped.”

• 18 June: “Two very smart people decided not to keep going with that war; that could have been a nuclear war.”

• 21 June: “I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize for stopping the War between India and Pakistan.”

• 25 June: “India and Pakistan…I ended that with a series of phone calls on trade. I said if you’re going to go fighting each other, we’re not doing any trade deal. They said: I want to do the trade deal. We stopped the nuclear war."

• 27 June: “India and Pakistan. That was going to be maybe nuclear… I said to Scott and Howard: cancel all deals with India and Pakistan. They’re not trading with us because they’re in a war.”

• 08 July: “Very, very big one was India and Pakistan. We stopped that over trade. We said that we are not going to be dealing with you at all if you are gonna fight. They were maybe at a nuclear stage.”

• 15 July: “India and Pakistan would have been a nuclear war within another week. I said, we ’ re not going to talk to you about trade unless you get this thing settled. And they did.”

• 19 July: “Planes were being shot out of there. I think five jets were shot down, actually. These are two serious nuclear countries. India and Pakistan were going at it… and we got it solved through trade. We said: you guys want to make a trade deal. We’re not making a trade deal if you’re going to be throwing around weapons, and maybe nuclear weapons.”

• 26 July: “It (Cambodia-Thailand conflict) very much reminds me of the conflict between Pakistan and India, which was brought to a successful halt.”

• 28 July: “We do a lot of trade with Thailand and Cambodia. Yet I’m reading that they’re killing each other… I say this should be an easy one for me because I settled India and Pakistan… If I can use trade to do that, then it’s my honour."

With inputs from agencies