EAM S Jaishankar breaks silence on China, US role in India-Pakistan conflict: 'Many of the weapons systems...'

Following the Pahalgam terror attack, the military conflict escalated between India- Pakistan during Operation Sindoor. However, the military commanders of both sides agreed upon a ceasefire through direct contact, as stated by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who recently rejected claims that the United States played a decisive role in brokering the truce. In an interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Jaishankar gave point responses to the questions involving China, and US roles in the India-Pakistan military conflict that claimed several lives of civilians. He raised concerns over Pakistan's close defence ties with China, and acknowledged the US's influence but underlined India’s independent strategic decisions to ceasefire agreement with Pakistan.

Jaishankar further clarified that the bilateral negotiations between the two countries de-escalated conflict with no US mediation involved. On being asked if the world should be grateful to the US for the ceasefire, he replied, "The cessation of firing was agreed between the military commanders of both sides through direct contact. The morning before, we effectively hit and incapacitated Pakistan's main airbases and air defence system. So who should I thank for the cessation of hostilities? I thank the Indian military because it was the Indian military action that made Pakistan say: We are ready to stop.”

Jaishankar commented on China's role in the India and Pakistan conflict, pointing out that the weapon system used by Pakistanis was of Chinese origin. "You know, many of the weapons systems that Pakistan has are of Chinese origin, and the two countries are very close. You can draw your conclusions from that," he said. Further, he dismissed concerns about nuclear escalation during the India-Pakistan military confrontation with the sharp retort that the West tends to link any development in South Asia to a potential nuclear crisis. When asked if India's Operation Sindoor reached the point of nuclear escalation, he said, “he was astonished by the question.” Asked how far away was the world from a nuclear conflict, he replied, “Very far, far away. Very, very far away. I'm frankly astonished by your question. We have terrorist targets. Those were very measured, carefully considered and non-escalating steps. After that, the Pakistani military opened fire on us. We were able to show them that we could disable their air defence systems. Then the firing stopped at their request," he said.

Meanwhile, India carried out precision strikes through Operation Sindoor early on May 7 on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and PoJK in response to the Pahalgam terror attack last month, in which 26 people were killed. India also effectively responded to subsequent Pakistani aggression and pounded its airbases.