India on Friday chose not to comment on the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Asim Munir at the White House on Thursday, maintaining that New Delhi closely follows “all developments that have an impact on our interests”.
This is India’s usual position on bilateral engagements between other countries. New Delhi had adopted the same line in June when Field Marshal Munir had a luncheon meeting with Trump at the White House.
Sharif and Munir met Trump during their visit to the US to attend the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). During this visit, Sharif also took part in a multilateral meeting hosted by Trump and attended by leaders from nearly a dozen Arab and Muslim countries to discuss the Israel-Hamas war and explore options to restore peace in West Asia.
The Associated Press, quoting a statement from Sharif’s office, said the Prime Minister praised Trump as a “man of peace” whose leadership helped avert a catastrophe by facilitating the May ceasefire with India.
Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim nearly 50 times. India has consistently maintained that there is no room for third-party mediation on India-Pakistan issues.
There was no official readout from the US on the meeting. Nor was any photograph of the meeting posted on the White House X handle, which had more than one post on Trump’s earlier engagement with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who, too, is being pressured by the US to stop buying Russian oil and gas.
Asked if India saw the possibility of Pakistan being involved in Trump’s plans to retake the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, external affairs ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal refused to be drawn into commenting on the issue.
On Bangladesh chief adviser Muhammad Yunus obliquely accusing India of stalling Saarc during an interactive session at the Asia Society in New York on Thursday, Jaiswal said “one particular country” — a reference to Pakistan without naming it — was responsible for the regional grouping not being able to meet for nearly a decade now. “As far as Saarc is concerned, we have made our position very clear. There is one particular country which is responsible for holding (up) progress in Saarc,” he said.
Nobel demand
Later, addressing the UNGA, Sharif said Trump helped avert a more threatening war in South Asia. “Had he not intervened, timely and decisively, the consequences of a full-fledged war would have been catastrophic. Who would have lived to tell what happened and, therefore, in recognition of President Trump’s wonderful and outstanding contribution to promote peace in our part of the world, Pakistan has nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize.”