New Delhi [India], September 17 (ANI): Following Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar's revelation that India categorically denied any third-party mediation in resolving bilateral issues with Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju questioned whether those who had earlier run campaigns to discredit India's stand would now apologise for undermining the country's image.

His remarks came as Dar's statement directly contradicted US President Donald Trump's claims of brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan.

Posting on X, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said, 'Pakistan says that India rejected 3rd party role during #OperationSindoor Will the people who ran a campaign to undermine India's image apologize ?'

https://x.com/KirenRijiju/status/1968158784024613068

During an interview with Al Jazeera, Ishaq Dar revealed that India categorically denied any third-party mediation in resolving bilateral issues with Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, contrary to claims made by US President Trump.

In the interview with the news outlet, Dar stated that Islamabad has raised the issue of third-party mediation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to which the US official responded that India does not support any outside involvement.

The Pakistani Minister, during the interview, recounted a specific interaction with Rubio regarding Trump's claims of mediating the May 10 ceasefire between the two nuclear nations.

However, during a bilateral meeting on July 25 in Washington, Dar raised the matter again with Secretary Rubio, who reiterated that India maintained its position, stating the issue was strictly 'bilateral'.

'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.

Dar's remarks contradict Trump's repeated assertions that the US brokered the ceasefire between the two nuclear-armed neighbours amid heightened tensions during Operation Sindoor, India's precision military strikes on nine terrorist infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), which came in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that claimed the lives of 26 people.

Trump, since May, had been claiming that his administration's mediation averted a potential 'nuclear war', for which India had categorically denied, stating the ceasefire was achieved through direct military-to-military talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two nations.

The Pakistani Foreign Minister also stressed Islamabad's willingness to engage in talks, but noted that the dialogue must be comprehensive, covering terrorism, trade, the economy, and Jammu and Kashmir.

He said that Pakistan refused to 'beg' for engagement with India, claiming that New Delhi lacked response and underscored that 'it takes two to tango.'

'We don't mind, but India has categorically been stating it's bilateral. We don't mind bilateral. However, the dialogues must be comprehensive, encompassing discussions on terrorism, trade, the economy, and Jammu and Kashmir. All these subjects which we have both been discussing,' he said.

'We are not begging for anything. If any country wants dialogue, we are happy; we are welcome... We believe that dialogue is the way forward, but obviously it takes two to tango. So, unless India wishes to have dialogue, we can't force dialogue. We don't wish to force dialogue,' Dar added. (ANI)