New Delhi:
US President Donald Trump was the first leader today to announce nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire. Minutes later, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri confirmed the ceasefire.
“The DGMOs [Director Generals of Military Operations] of both countries spoke at 15.35 pm and they will stop all action in land, sea and air. The next talks will be on May 12,” Mr Misri said.
However, just yesterday, US Vice President JD Vance told Fox News that the India-Pakistan conflict was “fundamentally none of our business,” though he and Trump had been encouraging the two neighbours to de-escalate.
It did not take long for that to change completely, when Trump made the announcement of the ceasefire on X and his own social media website Truth Social.
“What we can do is try to encourage these folks to de-escalate a little bit, but we’re not going to get involved in the middle of war that’s fundamentally none of our business and has nothing to do with America’s ability to control it. You know, America can’t tell the Indians to lay down their arms. We can’t tell the Pakistanis to lay down their arms. And so, we’re going to continue to pursue this thing through diplomatic channels,” Mr Vance, who has been a proponent of US disengagement from international conflicts, said in an interview with Fox News.
After Trump’s announcement, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio followed with a similar post on X, confirming the ceasefire.
“Over the past 48 hours, VP Vance and I have engaged with senior Indian and Pakistani officials, including Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Shehbaz Sharif, External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir, and National Security Advisors Ajit Doval and Asim Malik,” Mr Rubio said.
“I am pleased to announce the Governments of India and Pakistan have agreed to an immediate ceasefire and to start talks on a broad set of issues at a neutral site. We commend Prime Ministers Modi and Sharif on their wisdom, prudence, and statesmanship in choosing the path of peace,” he added.
Before the ceasefire announcement came, India said any future act of terror by Pakistan will be considered an act of war, and India will respond accordingly.
The warning was significant as Pakistan had been launching drone and missile attacks on military installations and civilian areas in northern India for the last three nights. Nearly all of them have been intercepted by the robust Indian air defence network.