New DelhiMay 19, 2025 19:52 IST
First published on: May 19, 2025 at 19:02 IST
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The recent military conflict between India and Pakistan was in the conventional domain and there was no nuclear signalling by Islamabad, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri is learnt to have told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs on Monday.
Briefing the committee nine days after a ceasefire was announced between the two countries on May 10, Misri is learnt to have informed that the decision to stop military actions was taken at a bilateral level and there was no US intervention.
Earlier, the US had claimed credit for brokering the ceasefire between India and Pakistan. US President Donald Trump had said the two countries agreed on a full and immediate ceasefire “after a long night of talks mediated by the United States”.
Opposition parties, including the Congress, have consistently raised questions about the ceasefire being announced by Trump. On Monday too, Opposition members are learnt to have asked several questions to Misri, including on Trump announcing the ceasefire.
The meeting on Monday, held under the chairmanship of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, lasted two hours.
Misri is also learnt to have told the panel that India did not inform Pakistan before Operation Sindoor began. Congress leaders, including Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, have repeatedly targeted External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar for his remarks that India had informed Pakistan about targeting terrorist infrastructure on its soil. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), responding to Rahul’s statement, had called it a “misrepresentation of facts”.
An Opposition member is learnt to have asked about the whereabouts of terrorists involved in the Pahalgam attack on April 22 in which 26 people were killed, and what India was doing to capture them.
Another member is learnt to have asked Misri about the steps being taken by the Indian government to isolate Pakistan on the global stage and how India intends to put pressure on the US to put Pakistan back on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list.
An Opposition member is learnt to have asked why India has looked diplomatically isolated, and the messaging the country intends to pursue so that the perpetrator of terror, Pakistan, is not equated with the victim of terror, India.
Some Opposition members are also learnt to have asked if Pakistan used Chinese platforms in the conflict. Misri responded that it did not matter as India attacked Pakistani air bases, it is learnt.
Congress MPs Rajeev Shukla and Deepender Hooda, TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee and Sagarika Ghose, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, BJP’s Aparajita Sarangi and Arun Govil were among those present at the meeting.