Shashi Tharoor Rejects Trump’s Claim of Ceasefire Mediation: ‘Not In My Vocabulary’

Congress parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor has dismissed US President Donald Trump's claim that he played a facilitating role in negotiating the May 10 India-Pakistan ceasefire. Tharoor explained, "You are aware of our government's position very clearly.

In any crisis, there is always communication with those nations that call and reach out. We have taken the same position everywhere.

There's been no formal mediation process, either solicited or undertaken.". You call me, I explain to you what I'm doing and why I'm doing it, and that's all. Then if you then wish to go and tell someone else and they take some sort of consequences as a result of you telling them that, is that mediation? I don't think so. Not in my dictionary.

Leading a multi-party delegation to the US as part of the Centre’s Operation Sindoor global outreach initiative, Tharoor emphasized, “But in any case, we are always a country that talks in a very constructive way to whoever, if there's a crisis going on. Our foreign minister, if I remember correctly, put it on his own Twitter account every time he had a call with another foreign minister. There are so many foreign ministers out there everywhere who were calling him, concerned, wondering what's happening. And we kept giving a uniform message, I think, to all of them.

Trump had earlier stated that the US was behind the move in getting India and Pakistan closer. "If you take a look at what we just did with Pakistan and India,". We resolved that whole thing, and I believe I resolved it by barter. And I said, 'What in the world are you guys doing? ' Somebody had to be last to shoot. But the shooting was getting progressively worse and bigger and deeper and deeper into the countries.".

And we talked to them, and I think we, you know, I don't like to say we got it resolved, and two days later, something occurs, and they blame it on Trump's fault.

Trump's initial post on Truth Social even predated India making the official announcement of the ceasefire. He said, "Following a lengthy night of talks between the United States as the mediator, I am pleased to share that India and Pakistan have agreed on a FULL AND IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE. Congratulations to both nations for applying common sense and high-level intelligence. Thank you for your consideration of this issue!"

India initiated Operation Sindoor on May 7 in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that took 26 civilian lives. After four days of fighting, both India and Pakistan announced a ceasefire on May 10.

Tharoor's multi-party delegation comprises members like Shambhavi (LJP-RV), Sarfaraz Ahmed (JMM), GM Harish Balayogi (TDP), Shashank Mani Tripathi (BJP), Bhubaneshwar Kalita (BJP), Milind Deora (Shiv Sena), Tejasvi Surya (BJP), and former diplomat Taranjit Sandhu. Apart from the US, the mission is also scheduled to travel to Guyana, Colombia, Panama, and Brazil.