New Delhi, May 12 (PTI): Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Monday questioned why Prime Minister Narendra Modi neither mentioned the US nor President Donald Trump in his address to the nation despite them "interfering" in India's conflict with Pakistan.
Sibal also said the prime minister did not even state how the understanding with Pakistan on halting military hostilities was reached.
Sibal's attack came after Modi's address to the nation in which he sternly warned Pakistan that India will not succumb to nuclear blackmail and sent a clear message to the world -- terror and trade, terror and talks cannot go together.
"Any talks with Pakistan can happen only on terrorism and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir," the prime minister said.
Modi's assertions about not doing trade with Pakistan came minutes after US President Donald Trump said that he told India and Pakistan that his administration will do trade with them only if they end the conflict.
Reacting to the prime minister's remarks, Sibal said, "We all laud the courage of the armed foreces. People of the country salute them for giving a befitting reply to Pakistan. Whenever such terror attack (Pahalgam) takes place, our army will give a befitting reply."
"Some questions arise from the prime minister's address. He neither mentioned the US nor President Trump. Everyone knows that we were told that on May 10, 3:30 pm DGMO Pakistan called our DGMO and then at 5:30 pm Trump made a post on social media. He (Trump) claimed that the 'US mediated the ceasefire...and we were talking with India and Pakistan for the last 48 hours'," Sibal said at a press conference here.
The Independent Rajya Sabha MP also referred to Trump's remarks just ahead of the PM's address to attack Modi.
President Trump on Monday claimed that his administration stopped a "nuclear conflict" between India and Pakistan, adding that he told the two countries America will do a "lot of trade" with them if they stop the conflict.
"And we helped a lot, and we helped also with trade. I said, 'Come on, we're going to do a lot of trade with you guys. Let's stop it. Let's stop it. If you stop it, we're doing trade. If you don't stop it, we're not going to do any trade'," he claimed.
Referring to Trump's remarks, Sibal said Modi did not speak anything on that also.
"He (Modi) said that we have established a new dimension with Operation Sindoor. Yes, for the first time in India's history, a third country interfered in our matter and told us that they will decide what is to be done...you don't even mention how this understanding was reached (with Pakistan)," Sibal said.
"The second thing was that Modi said if Pakistan does such a thing again, we will give a befitting reply, which means terrorism has not been ended, all terrorists have not been killed and it can happen again. Mr. Prime Minister, I would like to say something, Pulwama happened under whose watch? Pahalgam happened under whose watch? Who will take responsibility for it?" Sibal said.
President Trump did not even mention terrorism in his remarks as if it is not an issue, the former Congress leader said.
India and Pakistan have reached an understanding to stop all firings and military actions on land, air and sea with immediate effect after four days of cross-border strikes that triggered fears of a wider conflict.
In a short announcement, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said the directors general of military operations of the two countries agreed on the understanding during a call this afternoon.
The decision by India and Pakistan was first made public by Trump in a social media post while claiming that the talks between the two sides were mediated by the US.
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Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.
The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.
Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.
What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.
"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,
which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.
"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.
"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.
"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.
In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.
The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.
With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.
Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).