New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his first remarks in parliament since the Pahalgam terror attack, Operation Sindoor and the subsequent four-day-long military conflict with Pakistan said that “no world leader asked India to stop the operation” but stopped short of naming US President Donald Trump.In his almost two-hour-long speech in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday (July 29), Modi also skipped any mention of what led to the Pahalgam terror attack, as well as the security lapses that caused the worst attack on civilians in India since the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.Instead, Modi focused on the opposition and the previous Congress government’s failures to contain terrorism.Modi’s statement came in his reply to the special discussion in parliament on Operation Sindoor that followed the April 22 terror attack in which 26 civilians were killed.While the opposition had demanded a discussion in the presence of the prime minister, Modi, who was not present during the discussion on Monday, only arrived a few minutes before his speech on Tuesday.“Indian forces had made it clear on May 7 itself that we have successfully achieved our objective. It was a clear policy by India, one decided with the armed forces, that our goal was to strike terrorists, their camps and their supporters. We said on the first day that our action is non-escalatory. After this we stopped the fighting. No leader in the world asked India to stop the operation,” he said.On May 7, India launched strikes on nine locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The subsequent four-day-long military conflict with Pakistan came to an end after Trump announced a ceasefire on May 10. Since then, Trump has continued to claim that he used trade as leverage to bring back the two countries from the brink of a nuclear war.While the Modi government has denied that any mediation took place, Trump has not been outrightly called out. In parliament too, Modi said that he had received calls from US Vice President J.D. Vance, but did not name Trump.Modi repeated his government’s stated position that on May 9 the Pakistani director general of military operations called his Indian counterpart and urged that the fighting be stopped.He said that India had already made its position clear on May 7, when Operation Sindoor was launched and nine locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir were hit, that “our action is non-escalatory”.While Modi stated that no other world leader was involved, he said that on May 9 he had received a number of calls from Vance.“At the same time on May 9 night, the US vice president tried to talk to me. He tried for hours, but I was busy in meetings with the armed forces, so I could not take his calls. Later, I called him back. The vice president of America told me on the phone that Pakistan is going to launch a big attack,” said Modi.“My answer was that if Pakistan has this intention, it will cost them heavily. I said this to the US vice president. If Pakistan attacks, we will respond by launching a big attack. This was my answer,” he said, adding that he had informed Vance that India would respond to bullets with cannons (“goli ka jawab gole se denge”).Modi’s response came shortly after leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi demanded that the prime minister ‘show the courage’ to tell parliament that Trump is a liar. Gandhi also accused Modi of using the armed forces to protect his image and said that the nation is above his image, public relations and politics.However, Modi chose to focus on his oft-repeated claim that Operation Sindoor had shown India’s capabilities to Pakistan.“Today Pakistan knows that India’s every response is heavier than the previous one. It also knows that India could do anything if the situation arises again. I want to reiterate that Operation Sindoor is ongoing,” said Modi.Earlier on Tuesday, Union home minister Amit Shah chose the special discussion in parliament to announce that three terrorists who were killed near Srinagar were involved in the Pahalgam terror attack.Modi did not make any mention of what had caused the Pahalgam terror attack itself and hit out at the opposition for questioning the timing of the announcement.“Yesterday, our security forces successfully carried out Operation Mahadev and brought it [Operation Sindoor] to its conclusion. But I’m surprised, some people were asking, ‘Why did it happen just yesterday?’,” said Modi.“Should the operation be scheduled based on the auspicious timing of Sawan ka Somwar? What has happened to these people? Has their frustration and hopelessness reached such extremes? For the past several weeks, they’ve been saying, ‘Operation Sindoor is fine, but what about the terrorists in Pahalgam?’ Now that action has been taken, they ask, ‘Why was it done yesterday?”While the opposition in their speeches in the Lok Sabha had questioned the government on agreeing to the ceasefire despite its repeated claims of taking back Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Modi put the blame on the Congress.“Before asking why PoK has not been taken back, Congress must respond – who let it go. India is still suffering the pain of mistakes committed by previous Congress governments, starting from Jawaharlal Nehru. Then Congress governments lost opportunities to get back PoK,” he said.Earlier on Tuesday, Shah too had placed the blame on the Congress for not wresting back PoK.