Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir nominated President of the United States Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, based on his alleged intervention in averting a possible nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan last month.
This was confirmed by White House spokesperson Anna Kelly, according to a report by Reuters.
Addressing the media on Wednesday, Kelly broke the news that Trump invited General Munir to the White House after Munir supported his name for the coveted international peace award. The ex-President reportedly helped defuse the situation, as per Munir, which led him to nominate him for the Nobel award.
According to the official criteria of the Nobel Peace Prize, the prize mainly recognizes endeavors in disarmament, peace talks, democratic and human rights promotion, and efforts that lead to a more organized and peaceful world.
Kelly's comments were made in the midst of India's repeated refusals to confirm any role by the United States in bringing down tensions with Pakistan. Tensions between the two nuclear powers had worsened after the terror strike at Pahalgam on April 22. India has always maintained that the choice to stop military operations was on its own and was without Washington or any third player's intervention.
Indian authorities insist that on 10 May, the Pakistani Director General of Military Operations had called his Indian counterpart immediately after India had conducted strikes on a number of Pakistani military facilities, including the strategically located Nur Khan (Chaklala) airbase. Both sides agreed to de-escalate on 10 May after four days of provocative cross-border operations using drones and missiles.
During a 35-minute phone conversation with Trump on Wednesday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi allegedly discussed only "Operation Sindoor," assuring that there was no mention of a trade agreement or any third-party mediation with respect to peace with Pakistan.
Contrary to India's stance, Trump reiterated his role in ending the hostilities between the two neighbors.
"Well, I ended the war between Pakistan - I love Pakistan - I think Modi is a great man, I talked to him last night. We are going to have a trade agreement with Modi of India. And I ended the war between Pakistan and India. This man (potentially Asim Munir) was very influential in ending it on the Pakistani side, Modi on the India side, and others. And they were fighting with each other, they are both nuclear nations. I got it ended," Trump stated.
Complaining about the media not giving him adequate coverage, Trump went on to say, "I don't think I had one story written, did I have one story written? I prevented a war between two very big nations, major nuclear nations. I did not have a story written about it, but that's fine. You know why, the people know."
Again advocating his position on another geopolitical matter, Trump tweeted Sunday, "Iran and Israel should come to an agreement, and will come to an agreement, just as I brokered India and Pakistan to come to, in that situation using TRADE with the U.S. to introduce reason, unity, and sanity into the negotiations with two great leaders who were able to come to a swift decision and STOP!"
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