ISLAMABAD: President Donald Trump said on Monday he had used United States (US) trade ties with India and Pakistan to persuade the nuclear-armed nations to back off from further military confrontation and agree to a ceasefire.
India and Pakistan reached an understanding to stop all military actions on land, in the air and at the sea on Saturday in a US-brokered ceasefire to cease escalating hostilities that had spiraled alarmingly, threatening regional peace.
The two sides used fighter jets, drones, missiles and artillery to attack each other in the worst fighting between them since the 1999 Kargil war, leaving around 70 people dead on both sides of the border.
Speaking at an event at the White House, Trump said the countries ended hostilities for a lot of reasons “but trade is a big one,” adding that Washington was already negotiating a trade deal with India and would soon start negotiating with Pakistan.
“On Saturday, my administration helped broker a full and immediate ceasefire, I think a permanent one, between India and Pakistan, ending a dangerous conflict of two nations with lots of nuclear weapons. They were going at it hard and heavy, and it was seemingly not going to stop,” he said.
“I said, ‘Come on, we are going to do a lot of trade with you guys. Let’s stop it. Let’s stop it. If you stop it, we will do trade, if you don’t stop, we are not going to do any trade.’ People have never really used trade the way I used it.”
While Trump thought his administration had brokered a permanent ceasefire between India and Pakistan, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a Monday evening speech India had only “paused” military action against Pakistan.
Pakistan will have to get rid of its “terrorist infrastructure” if it wants to be “saved,” Modi said in his first comments since the ceasefire.
“I will tell the global community also, if we talk to Pakistan, it will be about terrorism only...it will be about Pakistan-occupied Kashmir,” Modi said, referring to Azad Kashmir.
Pakistan and India have a history of bitter relations and both countries have fought three wars, two of them over the disputed region of Kashmir. Last week’s military conflict between them was also triggered by a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 tourists on April 22.
India struck multiple Pakistani cities on Wednesday, blaming the April 22 attack on Pakistan. Islamabad denied any complicity in the assault and reciprocated with similar strikes against Indian military targets.
Modi’s comments came a day after Pakistan said its response to Indian strikes was a “great example” of the coming together of all elements of Pakistan’s national power, warning of a similar response to any future attempts to challenge the country’s sovereignty and integrity.
“No one should have any doubt that whenever our sovereignty would be threatened and territorial integrity violated, the response would be comprehensive, retributive and decisive,” Pakistani military spokesman Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said at a presser.
On Sunday, Trump also said he would try to work with both India and Pakistan to see if they can resolve their dispute over Kashmir.
“I will work with you both to see if, after a ‘thousand years,’ a solution can be arrived at concerning Kashmir,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, referring to India and Pakistan.
India has for years insisted Kashmir is a bilateral issue and not allowed any third-party mediation.

THE HAGUE: Israel has asked the International Criminal Court to dismiss its arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant while ICC judges reconsider complex jurisdictional questions.
In a 14-page document dated May 9 but posted on the ICC website on Monday, Israel argued the warrants issued in November were null and void while judges weigh a previous Israeli challenge to the ICC’s jurisdiction in the case.
In a ruling that made headlines around the world, the ICC found “reasonable grounds” to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bore “criminal responsibility” for war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the war in Gaza.
The court also issued a war crimes warrant against top Hamas commander Mohammed Deif over the October 7 attacks that sparked the conflict. The case against Deif was dropped in February after his death.
Israel, not one of the ICC’s 125 members, challenged the court’s jurisdiction but judges on the ICC’s “Pre-Trial Chamber” dismissed the bid and issued the arrest warrants.
But last month, the ICC’s Appeals Chamber ruled the Pre-Trial Chamber was wrong to dismiss the challenge and ordered it to look again in detail at Israel’s arguments.
Israel says now that the arrest warrants should not stay in place while this complex and lengthy process is ongoing.
“Unless and until the Pre-Trial Chamber has ruled on the substance of the jurisdiction challenge... the prerequisite jurisdictional finding does not exist,” Israel argued.
“It follows that the arrest warrants issued on 21 November 2024 must be withdrawn or vacated pending the Pre-Trial Chamber’s determination of Israel’s jurisdictional challenge.”
Israel and its allies reacted furiously to the warrants issued on November 21, Netanyahu describing it as an “anti-Semitic decision” and then US president Joe Biden slamming it as “outrageous.”
Technically, any member of the ICC is required to arrest Netanyahu if he travels there, although the court has no independent power to enforce warrants.
Israel argued in its submission that Netanyahu could theoretically be arrested while the court was still weighing whether it had jurisdiction in the case.
“Depriving persons of their liberty on the basis of an arrest warrant issued in the absence of the necessary legal pre-conditions is an egregious violation of fundamental human rights and of the rule of law,” Israel argued.
Allowing the warrants to stay in place during the deliberations “is unlawful and undermines the legitimacy of the court,” said Israel.