New York: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday once again claimed that his administration “successfully brokered a historic ceasefire” to stop the escalating violence between India and Pakistan.
“As I said in my inaugural address, my greatest hope is to be a peacemaker and to be a unifier. I don’t like war. We have the greatest military, by the way, in the history of the world,” Trump said while speaking at a Saudi-US investment forum in the Saudi capital.
“Just days ago, my administration successfully brokered a historic ceasefire to stop the escalating violence between India and Pakistan,” claimed Trump, who is in Saudi on the first leg of his four-day trip to the Gulf region.
“And I used trade to a large extent to do it. And I said, ‘Fellows, come on. Let’s make a deal. Let’s do some trading,” Trump said to applause from the high-level audience, which included billionaire Elon Musk.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also applauded.
“Let’s not trade nuclear missiles. Let’s trade the things that you make so beautifully. And they both have very powerful leaders, very strong leaders, good leaders, smart leaders. And it all stopped. Hopefully, it’ll remain that way, but it all stopped,” Trump said.
Trump added that he was very proud of Secretary of State Marco Rubio and all of the people who worked so hard.
“Marco stand up. What a great job you did on that. Thank you. Vice President JD Vance, Marco, the whole group worked with you, but there’s a great, great job, and think they’re actually getting along.
“Maybe we can even get them together a little bit, Marco, where they go out and have a nice dinner together. Wouldn’t that be nice? But we’ve, we’ve come a long way, and that’s could be, you know, millions of people could have died from that conflict, that started off small and was getting bigger and bigger and bigger by the day.” A day earlier, Trump reiterated his claim that his administration stopped a “nuclear conflict” between India and Pakistan, telling the South Asian neighbours that America will do a “lot of trade” with them if they end hostilities.
India and Pakistan reached an understanding on Saturday to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.
Indian government sources in New Delhi have been maintaining that the Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan reached an understanding to stop all firings and military actions on land, air and sea, with immediate effect. They said no third party was involved.
On Saturday, Trump announced that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate ceasefire” after a “long night of talks mediated by the United States.” Later, in a post on Truth Social, Trump offered to work with India and Pakistan for a “solution” on Kashmir, while crediting Washington for helping the two nations arrive at the “historic and heroic decision” of stopping the conflict.
India has always maintained that the Kashmir issue is a bilateral matter and there is no space for any third party. India asserts that the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and the Union Territory of Ladakh are and always will be integral and inalienable parts of it.
