Jaishankar To Newsweek: Trump’s Ceasefire Claims “Not What Happened”

NEW YORK, NY (IANS)- External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has directly refuted claims made President Donald Trump regarding the ceasefire between India and Pakistan. Speaking on June 30, Jaishankar provided a firsthand account of the interactions, asserting that trade was not used as leverage to facilitate a ceasefire, contrary to Trump’s repeated statements.

Jaishankar recalled being present with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a phone call on the night of May 9 with Vice President J.D. Vance. During this call, Vance informed them that Pakistan was planning a significant assault on India. Jaishankar emphasized that India did not agree to certain conditions and that Modi remained resolute, indicating that India would retaliate.

He stated, “The Pakistanis did attack us massively that night, (and) we responded very quickly.” The next morning, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio contacted Jaishankar, informing him that the Pakistanis were ready to talk. Subsequently, Pakistan’s Director General of Military Operations, Major General Kashif Abdullah, directly called his Indian counterpart, Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai, to request a ceasefire.

Jaishankar shared this chronology of events during a fireside chat with Newsweek’s CEO Dev Pragad, in response to questions about Trump’s consistent claims. Trump had previously stated at a news conference in The Hague on June 25 that he “ended that with a series of phone calls on trade,” threatening to withhold trade deals if India and Pakistan continued fighting.

However, Jaishankar unequivocally stated that this was not the case, emphasizing that diplomacy and trade operated independently. He remarked that “the trade people are doing what the trade people should be doing, which is negotiate with numbers and lines and products and do their tradeoffs,” highlighting their professionalism and focus.

The escalation in May followed India’s Operation Sindoor, launched in retaliation for the Pahalgam terrorist attack by The Resistance Front, an organization linked to the Pakistan-supported Lashkar-e-Taiba.