Trump stated in his State of the Union address that he stopped a potential nuclear war between India and Pakistan.
He quoted Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif saying 35 million people would have died without his involvement.
India has consistently denied any third-party intervention or mediation in the matter.
US President Donald Trump claimed during his State of the Union address on Tuesday that Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had told him 35 million people would have died without his intervention to avert a war between India and Pakistan.
In the more than 100-minute speech, Trump reiterated his assertion that he had prevented a potential nuclear conflict between the two neighbouring countries. “In my first 10 months, I ended eight wars... including Pakistan and India, which would have been a nuclear war. Thirty-five million people, said the Prime Minister of Pakistan, would have died if it were not for my involvement,” Trump said.
According to PTI, Trump has made similar claims on previous occasions, at times citing lower figures such as 25 million or 10 million lives that he said were saved through his efforts. PTI reported that the US president has repeated the claim about stopping the India-Pakistan conflict around 100 times since 10 May last year. On that date, Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire following what he described as a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington.
India has consistently rejected any suggestion of third-party mediation in the matter.
During the address, Trump also listed several other conflicts he said he had helped resolve, including those between Cambodia and Thailand, Kosovo and Serbia, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the Congo and Rwanda. He added that the war in Gaza was now proceeding “at a very low level”.
Trump stated that the United States was restoring security both domestically and internationally. “We're proudly restoring safety for Americans at home and we are also restoring security for Americans abroad. Our country has never been stronger,” he said in his second State of the Union address of his second term.
At one stage, some Democratic lawmakers interrupted the speech, to which Trump responded by saying, “Isn't it funny? Sick people.”
(With inputs from PTI)
