Trump repeats claim of stopping India-Pak war

Washington: US President Donald Trump has once again claimed he had stopped a war between India and Pakistan. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had personally thanked him during a recent US visit.

Trump said Sharif made a public statement crediting him with saving “minimum ten million lives” by preventing a conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. He made the remarks while meeting top oil and gas executives on Friday, local time. Trump also used the moment to revisit his long-standing demand for the Nobel Peace Prize. He said he did not want to boast but added that he could not think of “anybody in history” more deserving.

He said a Nobel Prize should be awarded for every war that is stopped, though he insisted his focus was on lives saved, not awards. “Whether people like Trump or don’t like Trump, I settled eight wars- big ones. Some going on for 36 years, 32, 31, 28, 25 years. Some just getting ready to start like India and Pakistan where eight jets were shot out in the air and I got it done in rapid order without nuclear weapons. I can’t think of anybody in the history that should get the Nobel Prize more than me and I don’t want to be bragging but nobody else settled wars. You should get the Nobel Prize for every war you stopped. These were major wars, these were wars nobody thought could be stopped… I don’t care about that; I care about saving lives. I’ve saved tens of millions of lives.”

Trump has repeated similar claims several times since May last year. He has said US pressure helped prevent a full-scale war between India and Pakistan. However, New Delhi has said there was no third-party mediation. According to Indian officials, calm returned after direct military communication between the two sides.