PM Modi rejects Trump’s mediation claim on India-Pakistan ceasefire

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told US President Donald Trump that a ceasefire between India and Pakistan after a four-day conflict in May was achieved through talks between the two militaries and not US mediation, India's top diplomat said.

"PM Modi told President Trump clearly that during this period, there was no talk at any stage on subjects like India-US trade deal or US mediation between India and Pakistan," Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said in a press statement, commenting on Modi's conversation with Trump that took place on the sidelines of the G7 summit on June 17, Caliber.Az reports, citing Western media.

Trump had said last month that the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours agreed to a ceasefire after talks mediated by the US, and that the hostilities ended after he urged the countries to focus on trade instead of war.

Misri reiterated: "Talks for ceasing military action happened directly between India and Pakistan through existing military channels, and on the insistence of Pakistan. Prime Minister Modi emphasised that India has not accepted mediation in the past and will never do.”

India has previously denied any third-party mediation and the June 17 phone call between Modi and Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada, which Modi attended as a guest, is their first direct exchange since the May 7-10 conflict.

Pakistan has previously said that the ceasefire happened after its military returned a call the Indian military had initiated on May 7.

The heaviest fighting in decades between India and Pakistan was sparked by an April 22 attack in Indian Kashmir that killed 26 people, most of them tourists. New Delhi blamed the incident on "terrorists" backed by Pakistan, a charge denied by Islamabad.

From May 7 through 10, India and Pakistan exchanged tit-for-tat strikes spread over four days in which both sides used fighter jets, missiles, drones and artillery.

By Khagan Isayev