Doha [Qatar], September 17 (HBTV): Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar has said that India categorically denied any third-party mediation in resolving bilateral issues with Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, contrary to claims made by US President Donald Trump.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Dar stated that Islamabad had raised the issue of third-party mediation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who clarified that India did not support any outside involvement.
Dar recounted a specific interaction with Rubio regarding Trump's claim of mediating the May 10 ceasefire between the two nuclear-armed nations. He said that during a bilateral meeting on July 25 in Washington, Rubio reiterated that India maintained its position, stating the issue was strictly 'bilateral'.
'Incidentally, when the ceasefire offer came through [US] Secretary [of State] Rubio to me on the 10th of May... I was told that there would be a dialogue between Pakistan and India at an independent place... When we met on the 25th of July during a bilateral meeting with Secretary Rubio in Washington, I asked him "What happened to those dialogues?", he said, "India says that it is a bilateral issue",' Dar said.
Dar's remarks contradict Trump's repeated assertions that the US brokered the ceasefire between the two neighbours amid heightened tensions during Operation Sindoor, India's precision military strikes on nine terrorist infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK). The operation came in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that claimed the lives of 26 people.
Since May, Trump has maintained that his administration's mediation averted a potential 'nuclear war', a claim India categorically denied, stating that the ceasefire was achieved through direct military-to-military talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of both nations.
The Pakistani Foreign Minister said Islamabad was open to dialogue but insisted that talks must be comprehensive, covering terrorism, trade, the economy, and Jammu and Kashmir.
'We don't mind, but India has categorically been stating it's bilateral. We don't mind bilateral. However, the dialogues must be comprehensive, encompassing discussions on terrorism, trade, the economy, and Jammu and Kashmir. All these subjects which we have both been discussing,' he said.
'We are not begging for anything. If any country wants dialogue, we are happy; we are welcome... We believe that dialogue is the way forward, but obviously it takes two to tango. So, unless India wishes to have dialogue, we can't force dialogue. We don't wish to force dialogue,' Dar added. (ANI)