In LS, Rajnath, Jaishankar reject Trump mediation claim as Cong's Gogoi flags it

NEW DELHI: The government in Lok Sabha on Monday rejected the opposition's charge that Operation Sindoor was halted under pressure from the US as claimed by President Trump, with both defence minister Rajnath Singh and external affairs minister S Jaishankar asserting that the truce offer came from Pakistan and India acted on it after achieving the objective of the operation.

Opening the debate, Singh said the overall "politico-military" objective of the operation was to punish Pakistan for fighting a proxy war in the form of terrorism, and it has just been "paused", not ended. "If Pakistan again tries to carry out any nefarious act, we are fully prepared for an even more intense and decisive action," he said. Claims of stopping the operation under pressure are "baseless", he said.

Flagging Trump's claim that he leveraged trade to impose a ceasefire on India and Pakistan, Congress' deputy leader in the House Gaurav Gogoi said, "Before whom did PM Narendra Modi surrender?"

Jaishankar said at no stage in any conversation with US were trade and Sindoor linked. The refutation comes at a time when talks with US over a trade deal are delicately poised, with 72 hours to go.