Modi 'tough as hell', says Trump; once again claims credit for ending Indo-Pak conflict
Tokyo/Seoul (PTI): On the one hand, he praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the “nicest looking guy”, a “killer” and “tough as hell”. But in the same breath, Donald Trump once again waded into India-Pakistan conflict by claiming he stopped their recent military hostilities.
A few hours earlier, the US president also claimed that “seven brand new” planes were shot down in the May 7-10 Operation Sindoor.
“Prime Minister Modi is the nicest looking guy … he looks like you'd like to have your father like… he's a killer… he's tough as hell,” Trump said while speaking at the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) CEO Summit in Gyeongju, South Korea.
He landed in South Korea Wednesday morning from Japan as part of three-nation tour of Asia.
While emphasising that he has a “great relationship” with Modi, Trump reiterated that he used trade to resolve the war between India and Pakistan.
“I called Prime Minister Modi. I said, we can't make a trade deal with you… (He said) No, no, we must make a trade… I said, No, we can't. You are starting a war with Pakistan. We're not going to do it,” Trump said.
He also praised Pakistan’s army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, calling him “a great fighter” and “a great guy.”
“Then I called Pakistan. I said, we're not going to do trade with you because you're fighting with India and you know, two nuclear nations. And they said, no, no, no, you should let us fight. They both said that,” he added.
Trump claimed that the leaders of both India and Pakistan called him after two days and stopped fighting.
“After literally two days, they called up, they said, we understand, and they stopped fighting. How is that? Isn't that amazing? Now, you think Biden would have done that?” Trump said.
However, hours earlier in Tokyo, Trump had said that he managed to get the war stopped in 24 hours. The US president is known to make inconsistent comments.
In Tokyo, while speaking at a reception and dinner with business leaders on Tuesday, Trump said: “Seven planes were shot down, seven brand new, beautiful planes were shot down, and they were going at it ... two big nuclear powers.”
He added that he told Modi -- "a very nice man, a very good man, and the Field Marshal over in Pakistan, I said, 'Look, we're not going to do any trade if you're going to be fighting,'” Trump said.
Trump said that India and Pakistan argued that war has nothing to do with trade with the US.
“(They said) one thing has nothing to do with the other. I said this, it has a lot to do with the other …two nuclear powers…we get that nuclear dust all over the place. All of you are affected, right? And we said, No, we're not doing any deals if you're going to fight. And within about 24 hours, that was the end of that. It was amazing, actually,” the US President said.
Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim dozens of times that he “helped settle” the conflict between India and Pakistan.
India has consistently maintained that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians.
India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
