No, Mr Trump, India won’t have dinner with Pakistan just because you want it to, global powers no longer take orders from Washington DC
US President Donald Trump has been claiming credit for ‘brokering a ceasefire’ between India and Pakistan after India’s Operation Sindoor in a non-factual, boastful manner that reeks of megalomania and delusion. Though calls were made between USA and India and USA and Pakistan, and the MEA did talk with the Trump administration, the Indian government has made it very clear through multiple statements that it was neither a US-brokered ceasefire, nor a ceasefire per se.
First of all, India has emphasised that Pausing Operation Sindoor was only an understanding, one that can be called off at any moment, if Pakistan decides to violate it or attack India in any manner, not an official ‘ceasefire’. Second, India has also made it clear that DGMO-level talks were already underway to pause hostilities, and India agreed to pause Operation Sindoor on its own terms. The US President is way off the facts when he goes on claiming he made India and Pakistan stop firing at each other.
Trump falsely boasts that he prevented a potential nuclear war: India rejects claims
Trump has been repeatedly boasting that he is the one who ‘prevented a potential nuclear conflict’ by somehow making India and Pakistan stop hostilities against each other and thus, he is the one angel of peace that showed the right way to the warmongering Asian nations with his calm knowledge and saved the world.
Donald Trump repeated that in front of the world again in an event hosted by Mohammad Bin Salman in Saudi Arabia, amid grandiose pauses and encouraging nods and indulgent smiles from his staff at the front rows, going a step further and even repeating how he used trade to leverage an agreement on his terms.
He even proclaimed that India and Pakistan are now getting along so well that they should be having a nice dinner soon.
To puncture Trump’s balloon, the Indian MEA had fact-checked him on 13 May. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had categorically stated that it was the force of Indian weapons that made Pakistan pause hostilities and seek a talk, not any foreign mediation.
India has also rejected Trump’s claims that ‘trade’ was used as a leverage to make India and Pakistan agree to talk.
“The issue of trade never came up during the conversations between Indian and US leaders during any of the discussions from the time when Operation Sindoor commenced till the understanding with Pakistan was reached”, MEA spokesperson Jaiswal stated specifically.
India has also rejected Trump’s claims of preventing a nuclear war. Jaiswal said in the same presser, “See, the military action from our side was entirely within the conventional domain. This was also clearly stated in the defence briefing yesterday, where related questions were addressed. However, there were reports that Pakistan’s National Command Authority would meet on 10th May, reports which we saw. But this was later denied by them. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister himself has publicly denied any nuclear angle.”
So, what is it? Is Donald Trump playing to please his MAGA fanbase by making wild claims of being a saviour, or is he being fed misinformation by his colleagues who want to keep him pleased with himself, imagining a crown on his head and daydreaming about controlling the whole world? His statements are not only misleading but also too curiously oversimplified to fit the complex dynamics of one of the oldest conflicts in South Asia.
India knows its enemy, knows how and what to target and knows when to stop
Trump’s statements are problematic for multiple reasons. First, he is trying desperately hard to portray India and Pakistan as stupid warring nations who are fighting without a proper reason. If it is any nation that has been in conflict without a proper reason to be in a conflict, it would be Mr Trump’s own nation. All over the world, US foreign policy has been to bomb, threaten, sanction and bully nations and trigger conflicts, and conducting regime change operations when things do not go their way. Trump may have taken a detour with his trade emphasis and proclamations of peace, but that does not give him the right to dictate India’s military strategy.
India has been dealing with Pakistan for over 75 years. India has fought, negotiated, talked and traded with Pakistan for decades and has managed to emerge as a military superpower despite of, not because of USA. We do not need a Trump or Rubio to lecture us on how to deal with Pakistan, we have been dealing with them for nearly 8 decades now. Nobody knows and understands Pakistan better than India.
Operation Sindoor was all about India hitting targets and achieving its goals. The Modi government has already declared that any act of terror will now be considered an act of war, and the old Pakistani tactics of nuclear blackmail has been successfully busted. India has also made it clear that Pakistan can no longer wriggle away from accountability by claiming they have no control over terrorists and asserted that for every act of terrorism by Pakistan-based terrorists, the State and government of Pakistan will be held accountable.
If Trump has been really reading the room, he should realise that India can have dinners and hit targets inside Pakistan at will, at the situation and time of its own choosing. India does not need Washington DC to decide either of the scenarios.
The sheer superciliousness of pretending to know India-Pakistan conflict dynamics enough to make them dance to one’s tune, that too with the stupid claim of using ‘trade’ as a carrot, shows only the shallow conceit that is so typical of Western powers.
Trade is a bilateral exercise. India is an economic superpower with a 1.4 billion population. Trade with India is not a benevolence that USA shows to India; USA trades with India because it brings benefits. For Trump to pretend he used ‘trade’ as leverage to make India agree to compromise on its national security and stop its military operation against Pakistan is profoundly stupid. India’s Operation Sindoor was a thumping success and it was India which agreed to DGMO level talks with Pakistan after Pakistan’s request. India has demonstrated without any shred of doubt that India retaliated, escalated and scaled down to a temporary understanding completely on its own terms, not due to some ‘external pressure’, as claimed by Trump, and certainly not for the sake of ‘trade’.
The grandiose delusion of controlling the world, from one hollow boasting to another
It is the same Donald who had claimed, multiple times, that he would stop the Russia-Ukraine war in a single day. Well, nearly five months have passed since he assumed office, the war is still raging.
It is the same Trump who boasted he would make Hamas surrender all Israeli hostages at once and tremble with fear at his eminence. Well, despite the relentless pounding of Gaza by Israel and every sort of pressure tactics applied on a devastated, broken Hamas, the hostages are still there in Hamas custody.
It is the same Trump who claimed he would release the Epstein files, bring the US economy to a super accelerated growth instantly and wave a magic wand to stop illegal immigration and stop violent crimes in the USA. The reality is, issues are usually complex, and complicated problems do not solve themselves to satisfy the whims of a boastful politician.
As for the Russia-Ukraine war, the respective leaders of those countries will decide how to go about it, and when and how to talk and how the scale down and stop. The US can offer to talk and help with negotiations, but Vladimir Putin is under no obligation to take orders from him.
India’s policy or military strategy is not subject to approval or permission from Washington DC
The USA, and for that matter the entire Western world, has a habit of relentless preaching, a strange colonial hangover that makes them believe the whole world should obey their command, and the Global South, especially, should follow their orders, just like the good old 1800s. India has been navigating complex geopolitical and military challenges since its independence. Under PM Modi, India has emerged more assertive, and assured of its strategic strengths. Indian Navy dominates the Indian Ocean, from off the coasts of Somalia to waters of Bangladesh.
While maintaining its strategic neutrality, India has also been welcoming and positive about the growing friendship with the USA, indicating wholeheartedly that it welcomes development, people-to-people connections and bilateral trade. Western nations in general need to realise that relations are based on mutual respect, not unilateral, fake proclamations of superiority over the other.
India has imported arms and oil from Russia despite threats of sanctions and successfully maintained relationships with Western Asian oil kingdoms to South East Asian nations, from African economies to South American emerging voices. It has long been a multipolar world and India does not need orders, or approval from Washington DC to deal with its enemies, or have dinner with its friends.
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