Happy to see ceasefire, Trump is peacemaker: US official on India-Pak tensions

After US President Donald Trump offered to mediate the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan, Tommy Pigott, Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the US Department of State, underscored the need to uphold peace in the region.

Pigott expressed the United States’ satisfaction with the ongoing “ceasefire” between the two countries, emphasising that the primary goal was to encourage direct talks between India and Pakistan.

While addressing a press briefing, Pigott said, “What we are happy to see is a ceasefire. We want to encourage and see direct talks between the parties. Taking a step back, the President is a peacemaker, and we celebrate the advancement of peace. We hope the ceasefire will be maintained.”

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump on Thursday reiterated his claim that he helped broker a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, after urging both nuclear-armed neighbours to focus on trade instead of war.

“I don’t want to say I did, but I surely helped settle the problem between India and Pakistan last week, which was becoming more and more hostile. All of a sudden, you saw missiles of different types. We got it settled, and I hope when I walk out of here two days late, I don’t find out it is not settled,” Trump said while addressing US troops at a base in Qatar during his Gulf tour.

“We talked to them about trade. I said let’s do trade instead of war. Both India and Pakistan were very happy with that. They have been fighting for about a thousand years. I said I could settle this up. I can settle anything,” Trump added.

The Indian government on Tuesday rejected Trump’s claim that he helped broker a ceasefire between India and Pakistan in exchange for trade concessions, stating unequivocally that the “issue of trade did not come up” in any discussions between the two nations during the recent military escalation.

In response to media queries about Trump’s comments, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) clarified that the Indian and US leadership were in touch during the tense standoff with Pakistan, but there was no conversation on trade.

India has rejected any third-party intervention on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir and has expressed that the region is an integral part of India.

Tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad heightened after India launched Operation Sindoor to destroy nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir (POK) to avenge the deadly Pahalgam terror attack, which killed 26 people.

With inputs from ANI

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