Third-party mediation between India, Pak has been reality since 1990: Congress MP Manish Tewari

New Delhi: Congress leader Manish Tewari on Tuesday said third-party mediation between India and Pakistan has been a reality since 1990, and cited several instances in this regard even during the UPA regime.

"Third Party Mediation between India and Pakistan is a reality going back to 1990 call it by whatever name back channelling, brokering, mediating, arbitrating etc," he said in a post on X.

"From 1947-1972 Indo Pakistan-Relations or lack of them whenever they reached a flashpoint were undergirded by UNSC resolutions, 1972-1990 the Shimla Agreement, 1990 onwards Third Party Intervention by whatever nomenclature you are most comfortable with," he said.

"(US President) Donald Trump is just stating the facts as they are. If you were to rewind to whenever there has been a flashpoint in the India-Pakistan dynamic, there has been back-channelling or third-party mediation. You can use whichever terminology gives you a more respectable fig leaf," he said.

The Congress has raised questions on the US claims of mediation between India and Pakistan and the cessation of hostilities between the two.

Tewari said, "In 1990, you had the Robert Gates mission when Pakistan started flashing the nuclear word. During Kargil in 1999, there was back-channelling. Nawaz Sharif landed up at the White House uninvited and unannounced. Subsequently, there was a ceasefire between India and Pakistan on India’s terms." In 2001-02, he said, in the middle of mobilisation for Operation Parakram, when the Kaluchak massacre took place, where the families of armed forces personnel were killed by Pakistani terrorists, there again was "very active back-channelling led by the US".

"In 2008, when the 26/11 attacks took place, there must have been back-channelling to try and see that things remain under a modicum of restraint. The same thing happened in 2016 with the Uri surgical strikes. The difference between the back-channelling that used to take place earlier and 2019 and 2025 is that earlier it was quiet," the Congress MP from Chandigarh said.

He said the people who were trying to temper down the situation would not publicly claim credit for it.

"The difference now is that Donald Trump claims credit upfront," the Congress leader said.

Tewari said that in 2019, at a press conference in Hanoi, when his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un failed, he announced that there was good news from India and that India and Pakistan were going to pull back, and both India and Pakistan did announce a ceasefire.

"The same thing happened on 10th May 2025. Donald Trump announced a ceasefire with a follow up statement by Marco Rubio and the guns did start falling silent between India and Pakistan.

"So, whether you like it or not, third-party mediation, notwithstanding the Shimla Agreement, is a reality. You may not want to accept this reality, but this is a reality. Third parties do get into the act when missiles start flying between two de-facto nuclear weapon states," Tewari said.