The BJP-led central government has come under criticism from the opposition parties after President Donald Trump announced on April 10 that India and Pakistan agreed to a US-mediated ceasefire ending the days-long military conflict.The opposition parties raised concerns regarding the Centre allowing a third party to interfere in issues pertaining to Pakistan and Kashmir and have demanded a special parliamentary session to discuss India’s military operations code-named Operation Sindoor.Echoing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s words regarding further dialogues with Pakistan on Kashmir, Jaishankar said, “The only thing which remains to be discussed on Kashmir is the vacating of illegally occupied Indian territory in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir; we are open to that discussion.””Pakistan has a list of terrorists that needs to be handed over, and they have to shut down the terrorists’ infrastructure. They know what to do. We are prepared to discuss with them what is to be done about terrorism. Those are the talks which are feasible,” he added.Commenting on the ceasefire agreement, Jaishankar said that India had achieved its goals.”We achieved the goals which we set out to do by destroying the terrorist infrastructure. Since key goals were achieved, I think we reasonably took the position, because even at the start of the operation, we had sent a message to Pakistan saying we are striking at terrorist infrastructure and not military and the military has an option to stand out and not interfere,” he said.”They chose not to take that good advice. Once they got badly hit on the morning of 10th May. The satellite pictures show how much damage we did and what little damage they did. It is clear who wanted cessation of firing,” he added.India carried out precision strikes on nine terror sites in Pakistan early on May 7, in response to the April 22 terror attack that killed 26 civilians in Jammu Kashmir’s Pahalgam.Subsequently, Pakistan responded with cross border firing, shelling and attacks on Indian military bases which was successfully thwarted by the military. Atleast 16 people, including children were killed as Pakistani airstrikes hit Jammu Kashmir’s border areas of Poonch.The Indian military targeted eight Pakistani air bases with missiles and other long-range weapons on May 10 in retaliation for Pakistan’s attempts to strike 26 military facilities.The hostilities ended with an understanding on stopping the military actions following talks between the Director Generals of Military Operations of both sides on the afternoon of May 10.
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