Op Sindoor outreach: JD(U)'s Sanjay Jha says countries didn't seem to take Trump's claims seriously

JD(U) MP Sanjay Jha

JD(U) working president Sanjay Jha has said that many countries his delegation visited as part of Operation Sindoor outreach inquired about US President Donald Trump's alleged role in brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, adding that they did not seem to take his claims seriously.

Jha led a multi-party delegation to Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia as part of the government initiative to apprise the world about Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.

In an interview to The Indian Express, Jha said that countries questioned his delegation about the risk of nuclear conflict and how the ceasefire understanding was reached by the two countries.

"On the ceasefire, they wanted to know US President Donald Trump’s role. We told them whenever a conflict happens anywhere in the world, countries make phone calls. It does not mean they mediate peace," he said, echoing government's statement that there was no third-party mediation between India and Pakistan.

Jha told Indian Express that PM Modi also spoke to both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodomyr Zelenskyy during the conflict between the two European countries but that does not mean that he was mediating in their affairs.

The JD(U) MP added that the delegation got the impression that the countries did not take Trump's claims very seriously.

"We gave them evidence of how the first call for a ceasefire was made by Pakistan. Indonesia and Malaysia had questions on whether tourism in India was safe," he told Indian Express.

Jha further revealed that the MPs were also asked questions about the Indus Water Treaty, which is held in abeyance by New Delhi.

He said that the delegation conveyed PM Modi's remarks to the countries that "blood and water cannot flow together". "We also said that if Pakistan stops terrorism, the treaty can be looked at positively."

On the risk of nuclear war, Jha said that his delegation assured the countries that India never considered the possibility during the military escalation. His team also reminded the host countries that India has no-first use policy.

"But we made it clear that we would not tolerate Pakistan’s nuclear blackmail. We also conveyed India’s new normal of treating every terrorist attack as an act of war," he told the newspaper.

The diplomatic outreach comes after Operation Sindoor, launched on May 7 as a decisive military response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists, which claimed 26 lives.