Mr Misri also reportedly denied that there was any “nuclear signalling” or threat by Pakistan to use its nuclear weapons and said the conflict was entirely in the conventional domain
New Delhi: Briefing the parliamentary committee on external affairs on Monday evening, India’s foreign secretary Vikram Misri is understood to have reiterated the government’s stand that the United States did not mediate the “understanding” that was “reached directly” between India and Pakistan on the evening of May 10 to halt all military action by land, air and sea, sources said after the briefing.
In response to a query by a panel member on how US President Donald Trump could post on the social media about the bilateral understanding reached between New Delhi and Islamabad even before it was announced by India, Mr Misri said India had not informed the US about this and added India had officially contradicted the assertions of mediation by any third party. He also said Indian and American leaders had held talks on the phone during Operation Sindoor but there was no American mediation. The foreign secretary also noted that the directors-general of military operations (DGMOs) of the two nations had spoken directly to each other to reach the understanding on May 10 after Pakistan’s DGMO had reached out to India’s DGMO.
Refuting the allegations by the main Opposition Congress Party recently, the foreign secretary made it clear that India had initially informed Pakistan at the DGMO level on May 7 about the attack on terror targets only after these had been carried out by the Indian armed forces, sources said.
Mr Misri also reportedly denied that there was any “nuclear signalling” or threat by Pakistan to use its nuclear weapons and said the conflict was entirely in the conventional domain. In response to a question from some MPs on any aircraft losses of the Indian Air Force during the conflict, Mr Misri said this would be answered by the ministry of defence, but pointed out that Inda had successfully hit the terror targets and Pakistani airbases that it wanted to hit during Operation Sindoor and had accomplished its mission objectives, sources said. The panel also unanimously condemned the recent online trolling of the foreign secretary and his family and expressed complete solidarity with him.
Mr Misri briefed the panel on the “current foreign policy developments regarding India and Pakistan” on Monday evening. The parliamentary panel is chaired by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and the meeting was attended by other panel members, including the TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee, the Congress’ Rajeev Shukla and Deepender Hooda, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, and the BJP’s Aparajita Sarangi and Arun Govil. According to reports, the foreign secretary is expected to brief the seven all-party delegations, which will visit various world capitals to convey India’s position against terrorism in the wake of the launch of Operation Sindoor, in two phases on Tuesday and Friday.
During the briefing, the foreign secretary was asked about how the International Monetary Fund granted a loan for Pakistan during Operation Sindoor despite India’s reservations, to which he indicated it was a decision taken by members of the IMF board. In response to another question by a panel member, the foreign secretary also sought to dispel the perception in some quarters that India stood alone during Operation Sindoor by noting that many nations had expressed solidarity with India in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack and had condemned it. One of the panel members also apparently suggested that India should try and convince Turkey of its error in backing Pakistan.
After the meeting, panel chairman Shashi Tharoor told reporters: “A lengthy discussion was held with the MEA. This meeting (that started at 4 pm) usually ends by 6 pm but today it went on till 7 pm because 24 members had come and a lot of people had questions. Detailed and satisfactory responses to those questions were received… Several questions were raised in the three-hour discussion, and detailed answers were received for them”. He added: “All committee members wanted to encourage the foreign secretary and announce our solidarity against everything that was said on the social media against him and his family. This (the online trolling) is absolutely wrong. The entire committee supports him. We would also like to say that he has served the nation well and we are thankful to him for that… There is no particular resolution that was passed. There was a desire on the part of many members to pass a resolution expressing solidarity with the foreign secretary. The foreign secretary himself did not wish to bring such a resolution. We respected his view but we convey it to you, on behalf of all the members, a strong sense of support and solidarity for the foreign secretary.”
It may be noted that the controversy over alleged US mediation had been triggered by none other than US President Donald Trump, who had first posted on social media platform X about the India-Pakistan “ceasefire” after what he termed a long night of talks mediated by the United States and even before New Delhi officially announced the “understanding” reached with Islamabad. However, New Delhi’s position on the understanding reached with Pakistan has been that “the stoppage of firing and military action between India and Pakistan was worked out directly between the two countries”. In fact, President Trump had also claimed that he used trade as a pressure tactic to nudge the two nuclear-armed neighbours towards a ceasefire, but New Delhi stated officially that trade was not discussed during the phone calls between Indian and American leaders during Operation Sindoor.
It may be noted India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to “stop all firing and military action on land and in the air and sea”. But even before India’s announcement, US President Donald Trump first declared on the social media that the two nations have agreed to a “full and immediate ceasefire” and further congratulated them for showing “common sense and great intelligence”. President Trump also took credit by declaring this happened “after a long night of talks mediated by the United States”. US secretary of state Marco Rubio too had said then: “Over the past 48 hours, vice-president J.D. Vance and I have engaged with senior Indian and Pakistani officials, including Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Shehbaz Sharif, external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, (Pakistan) Chief of Army Staff Gen. Asim Munir and national security advisers Ajit Doval and Asim Malik.”
