Amsterdam [Netherlands], May 22 (ANI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that the cessation of firing and military action was negotiated directly between India and Pakistan. He said that India had made it clear to every nation, including the US, that Pakistan needs to call India's general and say that if it wants to stop the firing.

In an interview with the Netherlands-based NOS, Jaishankar said that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to him, and US Vice President JD Vance talked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He stressed that it is natural that nations call up when there are two nations involved in a conflict.

When asked whether both armies talked to each other, initiated by the Pakistani army, Jaishankar said, 'Yes, we have a mechanism to talk to each other as a hotline. So, on the 10th of May, it was the Pakistani army which sent a message that they were ready to stop firing, and we responded accordingly.'

The cessation of hostilities between the two nations came after India's 'Operation Sindoor', launched in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians.

On being asked about the US role in the cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan, he responded, 'Well, the US was in the United States. Obviously, US Secretary of State Rubio and Vice President Vance had called up, Rubio had spoken to me, Vance had spoken to our Prime Minister, they had their view and they were talking to us and they were talking to Pakistani side as indeed were some other countries. There were some countries in the Gulf, there were some others as well.'

'That happens naturally, when we know when two countries are engaged in a conflict, it is natural that the countries in the world call up, sort of indicate their concern and what they can do in such a situation but the cessation of firing and military action was something which was negotiated directly between India and Pakistan. We made one thing very clear to everybody who spoke to us, not just the United States, but to everyone, saying look if the Pakistani want to stop the firing, they need to tell us, we need to hear it from them, their general has to call our general and say this and that is what happened,' he added.

Jaishankar also spoke about the PM Modi-led government's policy that India will give a response if there is an attack like the one that took place in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam on April 22. He said that India targeted the terrorist sites mentioned in the UN list and he even showed the list to the journalist.

He noted that the Pakistani military chose to fire on India following India's attack on terror sites, and India responded to their attack. He stated that India's attack on Pakistani airbases and air defence system on May 10 forced their military to accept that the two nations need to stop firing on each other.

When asked whether Operation Sindoor is still ongoing, 'What happened was, after the terrorists struck, it was imperative that we have a response because lack of response you understand was impossible in such a situation.'

The journalist said, 'It has been tried in the past, not to respond.'

Jaishankar then said, 'And we have seen the results. So, our government has been very clear. Okay, I accept that may not be the policy of the earlier government. But, our government is very clear, ff there is such an attack, there will be response. The response was there, the response targeted these nine places, where the terrorist centres, as I said, they are all, the places are all shown in the UN list, I mean this is where the terrorists work and live and operate from.'

Elaborating on India's response following Pakistani military action, he said, 'After that, the Pakistani military chose to fire on us and we responded, this went on four days and after that, the decisive day was the 10th of May. On the morning of 10th May, in response to an attack which they had launched on us earlier that morning, we had hit eight airbases. We basically made these bases non-functional, you know, we hit their runways, we hit their command centres.

'This is the kind of, you hit a runway, you make the airbase non-operational or you went after what is a air-defence command control system, this is the airbase close to Rawalpindi. That I think compelled the Pakistani military to accept that we need to stop firing at each other. At the moment, there is no firing and there has been some repositioning of forces accordingly,' he told NOS.

He asserted that Operation Sindooor continues as there is a clear message that India will give a response if it faces an attack like the April 22nd attack.

'The operation continues because there is a clear message in that operation, that if there are acts of the kind we saw on April 22nd, there will be a response, we will hit the terrorists. If the terrorists are in Pakistan, we will hit them where they are. So, there is a message in continuing the operation. But, continuing the operation is not the same as firing on each other. Right now, there is agreed cessation of firing and military action,' Jaishankar told NOS.

Tensions between India and Pakistan rose following the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, which claimed the lives of 26 people and injured several others. In response to the Pahalgam terrorist attack, Indian Armed Forces launched Operation Sindoor in the early hours of May 7, targeting nine terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), leading to the death of over 100 terrorists affiliated with terror outfits like the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizbul Mujahideen (HM).

Following the attack, Pakistan retaliated with cross-border shelling across the Line of Control and Jammu and Kashmir as well as attempted drone attacks along the border regions, following which India launched a coordinated attack and damaged radar infrastructure, communication centres and airfields across airbases in Pakistan. On May 10, India and Pakistan reached an understanding on the cessation of hostilities. (ANI)