Pakistan confirms India rejected third-party mediation during Operation Sindoor

Doha [Qatar], September 16 : Pakistan confirmed that India firmly rejected any third-party mediation in resolving bilateral issues with Pakistan during Operation Sindoor.

During an interview with Al Jazeera, Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Monday contradicted claims made by US President Donald Trump, who asserted that the US brokered a ceasefire between the two nuclear-armed nations.

Trump, since May, had been claiming that his administration's mediation averted a potential "nuclear war."

Dar stated Pakistan sought a ceasefire after India's strikes, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio informing him India doesn't support outside involvement.

"Incidentally, when the ceasefire offer came through [US] Secretary [of State] Rubio to me on the 10th of May... I was told that there would be a dialogue between Pakistan and India at an independent place... When we met on the 25th of July during a bilateral meeting with Secretary Rubio in Washington, I asked him 'What happened to those dialogues?', he said, 'India says that it is a bilateral issue," Dar said.

India's precision strikes targeted nine terrorist infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, retaliating against the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people.

Dar emphasised Pakistan's willingness for comprehensive talks covering terrorism, trade, economy, and Jammu and Kashmir, stressing "it takes two to tango".

"We don't mind, but India has categorically been stating it's bilateral. We don't mind bilateral. However, the dialogues must be comprehensive, encompassing discussions on terrorism, trade, the economy, and Jammu and Kashmir. All these subjects which we have both been discussing," he said.

"We are not begging for anything. If any country wants dialogue, we are happy; we are welcome... We believe that dialogue is the way forward, but obviously it takes two to tango. So, unless India wishes to have dialogue, we can't force dialogue. We don't wish to force dialogue," Dar added.

The revelation from Dar comes amid India's maintaining that the issue is strictly bilateral, with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar dismissing Trump's claims as "bizarre, if not unfair".

India attributed the ceasefire to direct military-to-military talks between Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs).

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