India’s Operation Sindoor was “measured, responsible and designed to be non-escalatory in nature” and the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force only targeted the terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and areas under the control of Pakistan.
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Unfazed by a perturbed New Delhi’s rejection of his claim about the United States brokering the India-Pakistan understanding to stop cross-border military offensives, President Donald Trump has now not only vowed to help resolve the dispute over Kashmir but also said that the conflict his administration helped end could have killed millions.
Nuclear Conflict
Trump’s comment about the possibility of the conflict leading to the “death of millions of innocent people” indicated that the United States had reasons to get worried over the possibility of the offensives and counter-offensives between India and Pakistan escalating to a nuclear conflict.
The US media reports quoted the Trump administration’s officials saying that an alarming intelligence report prompted Vice President J D Vance and Marco Rubio, Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, to step up efforts to end the conflict and make urgent calls to New Delhi and Islamabad, leading to the ceasefire.
Solution Concerning Kashmir
“While not even discussed, I am going to increase trade, substantially, with both of these great nations (India and Pakistan). Additionally, I will work with you both to see if, after a ‘thousand years’, a solution can be arrived at concerning Kashmir,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
His posts on the social media platform on Saturday, announcing the ‘ceasefire’ between the two nations, and on Sunday, announcing his plan to help resolve the dispute over Kashmir, however, had no reference to Pakistan’s support to terrorism against India.
Ceasefire
The US President’s offer to help resolve the issue of Kashmir between India and Pakistan added to the discomfort of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which was already perturbed by his and his administration’s move to announce from Washington, DC, the ‘ceasefire’ between the two neighbouring nations even before ‘understanding’ could be declared in New Delhi.
Pakistan’s illegal occupation
A source told DH that the Trump administration was aware of New Delhi’s position that it had only one point to discuss with Islamabad on the issue of Kashmir – the end of Pakistan’s illegal occupation of certain integral parts of India.
Trump and his administration’s public claims about brokering the ‘ceasefire’ and his promise to help resolve the dispute over Kashmir contradicted New Delhi’s long-held position that the 1972 Simla Agreement between India and Pakistan and the 1999 Lahore Declaration had left no scope for any third party to play any role in resolving the issues between the two neighbours.
During Trump’s first tenure in the Oval Office, New Delhi had rejected his offer to mediate between India and China. He had made the offer after the violent face-off between the soldiers of the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army at Galwan Valley on June 15, 2020.
The source in New Delhi contradicted the claim made by Rubio on Saturday that India and Pakistan, in addition to the ‘ceasefire’, had agreed to hold talks on “a broad set of issues” at “a neutral venue”. The source asserted that no such agreement had been reached between the two nations.
The formal bilateral dialogue between New Delhi and Islamabad has remained suspended since 2013, when the Pakistan Army’s personnel had brutally killed two soldiers of the Indian Army along the Line of Control in J&K. Though the two sides in December 2015 agreed to resume the dialogue, a series of terror attacks in 2016, beginning with the one at the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot in Punjab, derailed the process.
Rubio has been in touch with his counterparts in New Delhi and Islamabad since India launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ targeting terrorist camps in Pakistan as well as in areas under the illegal occupation of Pakistan early Wednesday.
India launched the offensive a fortnight after the April 22 killing of 26 people, mostly tourists, at Baisaran near Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir by a gang of terrorists owing allegiance to The Resistance Force, a front of the proscribed organisation Lashkar-e-Tayyiba based in Pakistan.
Operation Sindoor
India’s Operation Sindoor was “measured, responsible and designed to be non-escalatory in nature” and the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force only targeted the terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and areas under the control of Pakistan.
Pakistan, however, responded by targeting civilians and military infrastructure in India. The escalatory cross-border attacks by Pakistan were resisted and retaliated by the armed forces of India.
But “an alarming intelligence report”, according to US media reports, reached Washington, DC, on Saturday, particularly after India’s missile strikes hit the Nur Khan airbase of Pakistan.
The airbase is close to the Strategic Plans Division, which manages the nuclear arsenal of Pakistan, and India’s strike in its vicinity raised apprehension about the possibility of the cross-border military actions leading to a nuclear conflict.
Military Actions
Vance then joined Rubio in making calls to New Delhi and Islamabad. His calls to PM Narendra Modi in New Delhi and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad purportedly opened the path for the two sides to agree to halt the military actions.
The US Vice President had earlier said that Washington, DC, had no reason to estimate that the India-Pakistan cross-border military offensives might lead to a broader regional conflict or a nuclear conflict.
What is Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK)?
Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir is a part of the Kashmir region that is controlled by Pakistan. Kashmir is a beautiful area in the mountains, but it’s been a topic of disagreement between India and Pakistan for a long time. Here’s the story:
A long time ago, when India and Pakistan became separate countries in 1947, they both wanted to control Kashmir. This led to a big argument, and even some fighting. In the end, Kashmir got split into two parts: one part is with India, and the other part, called PoK, is with Pakistan. There’s also a small part controlled by China, but let’s keep it simple for now.
People in PoK live under Pakistan’s rules, but many people in India believe that PoK should be part of India. This makes things tricky, and the two countries often talk (or argue) about it. The people living in PoK have their own lives, culture, and challenges, but the disagreement between the countries affects them too.
Why does this matter?
Well, Kashmir is not just about land – it’s about people, their homes, and their future. Both countries want peace, but finding a solution isn’t easy.
Want to know more?
PoK is a topic that’s important for understanding the history and friendship (or sometimes tension) between India and Pakistan. Let’s keep learning together!
