NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) leader and former Defence Minister Sharad Pawar has raised sharp questions over the Modi government’s silence on US involvement in brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan. He demanded the Centre explain why American mediation was permitted despite the binding bilateral nature of the Shimla Agreement.
“This is the first time an American authority has publicly commented on our internal matters, which is not good,” Pawar told reporters, reacting to US President Donald Trump’s announcement that both countries had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire amid heightened military confrontation. Pawar stressed that the Shimla Pact explicitly states that all issues between India and Pakistan should be resolved bilaterally, without third-party interference. “How can we give space to a third country?” he asked.
While several opposition parties, including Congress, are demanding a special session of Parliament to debate the recent Pahalgam terror attack and India’s subsequent launch of Operation Sindoor, Pawar proposed an all-party meeting as a more secure forum, given the sensitivity of military matters. “I am not against a special session, but not everything can be disclosed in public. Some things must remain confidential,” he said.
Operation Sindoor, launched on the night of May 6–7, was India’s retaliatory military response to the killing of 26 civilians in the Pahalgam attack. The operation reportedly destroyed nine terrorist camps across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, killing over 100 terrorists. Pakistan’s counter-attacks on Indian military bases were thwarted with heavy retaliation, targeting multiple enemy installations.
Pawar, reacting to the emerging reports of the ceasefire, said, “Let’s see what the Prime Minister says,” referring to Narendra Modi’s scheduled address to the nation later that evening—his first since Operation Sindoor was launched.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri confirmed on Saturday that India and Pakistan had agreed to halt all military action across land, air, and sea. The statement followed Trump’s claim that the ceasefire was achieved through US-mediated dialogue—an assertion now drawing sharp scrutiny from political veterans like Pawar.
