New Delhi [India], September 19 : The Ministry of External Affairs on Friday strongly affirmed the stance that issues between India and Pakistan will be resolved bilaterally, with no role for any third-party mediations. He also reminded how Pakistan continues to remain a hotbed of terrorism, with a close nexus between terrorists, Pakistani state and the military.
MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal made the remarks during the weekly press briefing.
When asked about the recent interview of Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, where he said that the US had proposed a ceasefire along with discussions in a third country, and India was not ready for it, Jaiswal firmly said, "There is absolutely no role for third-party mediation in India and Pakistan issues. I want to underline it and make it clear again."
During an interview with Al Jazeera, Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Monday contradicted claims made by US President Donald Trump, who asserted that the US brokered a ceasefire between the two nuclear-armed nations.
Dar stated Pakistan sought a ceasefire after India's strikes, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio informing him India doesn't support outside involvement.
"Incidentally, when the ceasefire offer came through [US] Secretary [of State] Rubio to me on the 10th of May... I was told that there would be a dialogue between Pakistan and India at an independent place... When we met on the 25th of July during a bilateral meeting with Secretary Rubio in Washington, I asked him 'What happened to those dialogues?', he said, 'India says that it is a bilateral issue," Dar said.
India's precision strikes targeted nine terrorist infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, retaliating against the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people.
India attributed the ceasefire to direct military-to-military talks between Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs).
Responding to the recent videos of Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba from Pakistan, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal says, "On terrorism matters, we are clear that the world is aware of the nexus between the terrorists and the Pakistani state and the military."
Months after India's precision strikes on nine terror camps across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), a viral video of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Qaasim has surfaced. The video exposes Islamabad's denials of the strikes by confirming the destruction of the Markaz Taiba terror camp in Muridke, in Pakistan's Punjab province.
This revelation came days after Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) commander Masood Ilyas Kashmiri, in another viral video, admitted that the strikes on Markaz Subhan Allah at Bahawalpur, JeM's operation headquarters, during Operation Sindoor had killed the family of JeM Masood Azhar.
Earlier in May, sources told ANI that Mohammad Yusuf Azhar and Hafiz Muhammed Jameel, brothers-in-law of Masood Azhar and Mohammad Hassan Khan, were killed during the strikes.
Mohammad Yusuf Azhar, brother-in-law of Maulana Masood Azhar, was wanted for the IC-814 hijacking case. He also used to handle weapons training for JeM and was involved in multiple terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.
The strikes on May 7 under Operation Sindoor targeted these key strongholds of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), launched in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack.
Highlighting India's stance towards terrorism, spokesperson Jaiswal said, "We all have to fight cross-border terrorism and terrorism...We call up on the world that we have to strengthen and intensify our efforts to deal with terrorism in all its forms and manifestations."