SRINAGAR: Amid fresh remarks from US President Donald Trump claiming that five jets were shot down during the recent conflict between India and Pakistan and reiterating that it was his administration that helped end the fighting, the Congress on Saturday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi break his silence in Parliament.
Congress general secretary in-charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, said, “Just two days before the Monsoon Session of Parliament begins, the Trump missile gets fired for the 24th time with the same two messages.” He referred to Trump’s repeated claims over the past 70 days that he personally intervened to stop what he described as an escalating war between two nuclear powers, India and Pakistan.
“The sensational new revelation by President Trump this time around is that five jets may have been downed,” Ramesh said, calling on Modi to make a “clear and categorical” statement in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
Trump made his latest comments during a dinner with Republican senators at the White House on Friday, where he said, “You had India, Pakistan… in fact, planes were being shot out of the air… four or five. But I think five jets were shot down actually… that was getting worse and worse.” He went on to claim that it was his administration’s intervention — through trade pressure — that led both countries to halt their military actions. “We got it solved through trade. We said, ‘You guys want to make a trade deal. We’re not making a trade deal if you’re going to be throwing around weapons and maybe nuclear weapons’,” Trump said.
He added, “Something I’m very proud of, we stopped a lot of wars, a lot of wars. And these were serious wars.”
This isn’t the first time Trump has taken credit for the de-escalation. Since May 10, he has repeatedly said that the US helped broker a ceasefire between India and Pakistan. On that day, he posted that India and Pakistan had agreed to a ceasefire “after a long night of talks mediated by Washington”.
India, however, has consistently rejected any suggestion of third-party involvement. New Delhi maintains that the cessation of hostilities was the outcome of direct communication between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of both countries. Prime Minister Modi, in a phone call with Trump last month, is understood to have told him that India “does not and will never accept” mediation.
The conflict began after the Pahalgam terror attack on May 5, in which 26 civilians were killed. India responded with Operation Sindoor on May 7, striking terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility for the attack. The clashes lasted four days and reportedly ended with a military understanding on May 10.
On Thursday, the US designated TRF as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity — a move welcomed by India.
