"Normalcy in ties can't be at cost of sovereignty": Owaisi asks Centre to rebut China's mediation claim

New Delhi [India], January 1 (ANI): AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has asked the Centre to rebut the Chinese Foreign Minister's claim of Beijing's role in mediating the India-Pakistan standoff, stating that "normalcy in ties" with the neighbouring country cannot be at the cost of sovereignty.
After United States President Donald Trump repeatedly claimed that Washington stopped a potential war between India and Pakistan, China also asserted its role in mediating tensions amid the four-day conflict in May 2025.
In a series of X posts, Owaisi urged the central government to assure the citizens that there was no third-party intervention between India and Pakistan following Operation Sindoor.
"After the US President announced a ceasefire before us and claims to have used trade sanctions to secure peace, we now have the Chinese foreign minister making similar claims officially. This is an affront to India and must be strongly rebutted by the government. Normalcy in ties with China can't be at the cost of India's honour or its sovereignty," the AIMIM chief wrote on X.
Terming it a surprising claim by China, he added, "This is a surprising claim from the Chinese foreign minister that Beijing mediated between India and Pakistan. The Indian government must rebut this claim officially and assure the country that no third-party intervention is acceptable."
Further, Owaisi called it Beijing's attempt to place India and Pakistan on the same pedestal while claiming its superiority in South Asia.
"China wants to place India and Pakistan at the same level and is trying to project itself as a superior in South Asia. Is this what the Modi government agreed to when the PM visited China? On the one hand, China supplies 81 per cent of weapons to Pakistan and provided real-time intelligence during Operation Sindoor and on the other, it claims to be a mediator. This is unacceptable and cannot be taken silently by us as a country," he said.
China's claims have sparked a fresh political row over Operation Sindoor. On Wednesday, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh also launched a scathing attack against the Centre, terming it a "joke" on New Delhi's national security.
Jairam Ramesh, in an X post, expressed concern over China's claim, as Beijing has close defence ties with Pakistan and is an arms supplier for Islamabad.
The Congress leader wrote, "President Trump has long claimed that he personally intervened to halt Operation Sindoor on May 10, 2025. He has done so on 65 different occasions in various forums in at least seven different countries. The Prime Minister has never broken his silence on these claims made by his so-called good friend."
"Now the Chinese Foreign Minister makes a similar claim and says China also mediated. On July 4, 2025, the Deputy Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Rahul Singh, had publicly stated that during Operation Sindoor, India was actually confronting and combating China. Given that China was decisively aligned with Pakistan, Chinese claims of having mediated between India and Pakistan are concerning - not just because they directly contradict what the people of our country have been led to believe, but because they seem to make a joke of our national security itself," Ramesh added.
This comes after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, speaking on Tuesday (local time) at the Symposium on the International Situation and China's Foreign Relations, said Beijing had played a mediating role in several global conflicts, including the one between India and Pakistan, the Chinese Foreign Ministry shared a statement on X.
"To build peace that lasts, we have taken an objective and just stance, and focused on addressing both symptoms and root causes. Following this Chinese approach to settling hotspot issues, we mediated in northern Myanmar, the Iranian nuclear issue, the tensions between Pakistan and India, the issues between Palestine and Israel, and the recent conflict between Cambodia and Thailand," Wang said.
Wang's remarks come months after India and Pakistan were locked in a brief but intense military confrontation in May, triggered by a terror attack in the Pahalgam valley of Jammu and Kashmir on April 22, which claimed the lives of 26 people. India responded with Operation Sindoor, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
India has consistently dismissed claims of any third-party mediation, maintaining that the four-day confrontation was resolved through direct military-to-military communication.
New Delhi has maintained that, inflicted by this heavy damage, Pakistan's Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) called the Indian DGMO and both sides agreed to stop all firing and military action on land and in the air and sea with effect from May 10. (ANI)