New Delhi: US president Donald Trump on September 30 said Pakistan Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir had personally credited him with preventing a war between India and Pakistan earlier this year and saving “millions of lives.

Trump, speaking at Quantico to US military commanders, recounted his meeting with Munir and Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, where the army chief allegedly praised him in front of others. “He said to a group of people that were with us...that this man saved millions of lives because he saved the war from going on. That war was going to get very bad...I loved the way he said it,” Trump said.

He repeated the point, stressing that Munir’s words carried weight. “The prime minister of Pakistan was here along with the Field Marshal...and he said, ‘This man saved millions of lives because he stopped the war from going on.’ That war was going to get very bad. I was very honoured. I love the way he said it,” Trump added.

Describing Munir as “a very important guy in Pakistan,” Trump said his remarks were so striking that White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, who was present, called it “the most beautiful thing.”

The comments came as Trump reiterated his claim that he personally brokered the ceasefire between India and Pakistan in May, after hostilities flared following India’s Operation Sindoor. “India and Pakistan were going at it. I called them both...They had just shot down seven planes. I said, if you do this, there’s not going to be any trade, and I stopped the war. It was raging for four days,” Trump said.

A ceasefire was announced on May 10, ending days of strikes and counter-strikes after the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 civilians. Trump has since then taken credit for the truce, even suggesting he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for preventing wars.

India has denied that it was a ‘ceasefire’ and only termed it as a temporary cessation of hostilities. Further, New Delhi has denied Trump’s role, claiming that the ‘pause’ was done after Pakistan military sought a ceasefire.

This is the second consecutive day that he has praised and mentioned the Pakistani leaders. 

At a joint press conference with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on September 29, Trump also referred to Pakistan in remarks on his Gaza peace plan. He said that Sharif and Munir were “incredible people,” had been “with us right from the beginning” and would “back this 100%”.

Sharif and Munir had met with Trump in White House last week – the first time that a Pakistan PM had a sit-down meeting with the US president in six years. He had also met with Trump as part of a cohort of Muslim leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Repeated claims

Earlier this month, Trump had raised the issue in his United Nations General Assembly address on September 23, when he repeated his claim of ending a “Pakistan-India war” and listed it among seven conflicts that he said he personally resolved in recent months. “In seven months, I ended seven unendable wars... Cambodia and Thailand, Kosovo and Serbia, Congo and Rwanda, Pakistan and India, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, Armenia and Azerbaijan,” he told world leaders.

In the same address, he accused New Delhi and Beijing of being “primary funders” of Russia’s war in Ukraine through purchases of Russian oil. “China and India are the primary funders of the ongoing war by continuing to purchase Russian oil,” Trump said.

His administration has imposed a 25% tariff “penalty” on Indian imports over the issue, raising total tariffs to 50%, sharpening economic tensions with New Delhi.

There has been a strong perception in India that Washington has aligned towards Pakistan after the May clashes, which is a realignment of its South Asia policy where New Delhi was largely seen by US as a bulwark against a dominant China in Asia.

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