PM Narendra Modi Has Skillfully Avoided The Issue Of Trump's Claim Regarding Ceasefire
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his long reply to the discussion in Lok Sabha on Operation Sindoor on Tuesday night skillfully avoided the issue of any mediation by the U.S. President Donald Trump by stating that no world leader told India to stop Operation Sindoor. His refrain was that Pakistan DGMO came begging on May 10 after the dismantling of Pakistan's military infrastructure and India agreed as the objectives of Operation Sindoor had been served.
This was half truth. Prime Minister skillfully mentioned only one part of the conversation he had with the U.S. Vice President J D Vance on May 9 – May 10 which was the deciding factor in arriving at the ceasefire decision by the Prime Minister. PM mentioned about his talks with Vance only by mentioning that when Vance said that Pakistan was set to launch an offensive, Modi bluntly told Vance that India would respond fiercely if Pakistan tried to attack. They would pay a heavy price and India would respond to each Pak bullet with a canon, PM told Vance..
This was fine. This was certainly part of the conversation with Vance in that fateful hour. But Vance talked on behalf of the President Trump, he was communicating the message of the dear friend of the Indian PM which was quite stern. The conversation was long. So what other things Vance talked apart from what Modi mentioned that the VP informed of the probability of a big Pak attack.
Let us recap the scenario starting from early May 7 to the evening of May 10 when President Trump announced the ceasefire decision claiming credit for that. After the devastating attacks by the Indian side on the terrorist infra on May 7 early hours, Pakistan retaliated but they found that their air surveillance network has been seriously damaged by the Indian system and they could hardly hit the Indian targets due to the super system of India to protect its skies. From May 8 onwards, Pakistani sources spread the reports that the Pakistan Nuclear Board is meeting and a decision would be reached soon. It was deliberately conveyed to Washington by Pak sources. Trump got panicky at the possibility of a nuclear war in South Asia. He asked his trusted officials Marc Rubio and J D Vance to talk to both India and Pakistan Prime Ministers and organize ceasefire within 24 hours.
That was how the process started at a breakneck speed on May 9. March Rubio talked to Asim Munir, Pak chief of staff and the most important decision maker relating to this India-Pak war on May 9 night early morning in Islamabad 4-45 AM. He was persuaded .There was little effort on Rubio's part as Pakistan was looking for a face saving formula to wriggle out of the war. Pakistan side was ready. J D Vance took the responsibility of persuading PM Narendra Modi and he did that on May 9 night which Indian PM mentioned. The full details of Vance-Modi talks will reveal what exactly went into Indian PM's decision making process.
After Vance's confirmation from PM Modi, Pakistan was told about India agreeing to ceasefire but the Pak DGMO would have to approach first to India with the offer. Accordingly, the Pak DGMO rang up the Indian DGMO at noon of May 10, but the Indian DGMO was in a meeting. Then in the afternoon at 3-35 PM on May10, both the DGMO's agreed to the ceasefire with effect from 5 PM of May 10. Trump was constantly following the developments and as the two DGMO's made it official, Trump made his announcement taking credit much before foreign secretary Vikram Misri announced the ceasefire decision officially in the evening.
External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar tried to defend Prime Minister in Rajya Sabha debate on Wednesday by saying that Trump never talked to Narendra Modi during Operation Sindoor which was correct. Trump spoke to the Indian PM on April 22 after the Pahalgam massacre expressing support for fight against terrorists and then next he talked to the Indian PM on May 17, a week after ceasefire. But the talks carried out by his officials Marco Rubio and J D Vance between May 8 and May 10 were on behalf of their President Trump. The US officials were negotiating at the directive of their boss. So Jaishankar's argument that since Trump did not speak directly to Narendra Modi between May 7 and 10, there could be no Trump role in ceasefire decision, was flawed. As the EAM for long, Jaishankar should have known how directives are passed on to the other heads through the high officials.
During the debate, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi demanded that the PM should clear the controversy over ceasefire by saying in Parliament- Donald Trump is lying. He wanted Modi to say 'Trump, you are a liar, you did not make ceasefire and we did not lose any planes'. Indian PM cannot say this but if it was true that if India on its own decided on ceasefire without any US intervention, he at least could have mentioned the name of Trump and said that this Trump statement was not true. Trump has till now claimed this for 29 times.
PM Modi was not true to the facts regarding support received by India from international community as against Pakistan. India got full support against terrorist attacks in the country against its people. But regarding Operation Sindoor, that support was not forthcoming as India could not prove in the global forum that Pakistan inspired the attacks. Pakistan is claiming in the UN and in talks with other countries that India had not produced Pakistan links with Pahalgam attackers. The links have to be proved if the campaign against Pakistan has to be made a success.
At the international level, India is diplomatically more isolated these days compared to even two years before. Indian diplomats who have been marketing Prime Minister's New Normal doctrine, are getting tepid response from the friendly countries as most of them think that the doctrine emphasizes on perpetual tensions in the India-Pak sub continent. Trump, a friend of Indian Prime Minister has put India and Pakistan together and has gone further by having lunch meeting with the Pakistan Army Chief and now Field Marshall Asim Munir in the White House. Russia has called for talks between India and Pakistan for defusing the tensions. China and Turkey have openly sided with Pakistan, though is talking for bilateral dialogue for resolving the contentious issues.
As regards the LoP Rahul Gandhi, he did not show his political maturity by constantly taking an aggressive approach on Pakistan Occupied Kashmir or China. These are issues pending for long and require patient tackling. Playing into gallery by saying that India missed the opportunity of taking over POK does not suit the Congress leader who is aspiring to become the Prime Minister one day. He has been pursuing right policies on domestic issues but on foreign policy issues, his views are still blurred, not mature enough. He has to learn a lot.
The long debate has however enabled Narendra Modi to come out unscathed from more bitter opposition attacks as the Vance conversation issue was not vigorously pursued. Prime Minister could get away by focusing on many irrelevant issues including Nehru's name fourteen times but not naming Trump once. It will be seen how the White House reacts to PM's statement in the debate in the coming days. (IPA Service)
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