'Great Man': Trump Praises PM Modi At Board Of Peace; Embarrassing Affair For Shehbaz Sharif

Washington: The opportunity which was meant to cement Pakistan's presence on a global stage turned into an embarrassing moment for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. At the inaugural session of the Board of Peace in Washington, US President Donald Trump paused mid-speech, pointed at Sharif and asked him to stand before starting into praise for India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was not present at the event.

Why was it embarrassing for Sharif?

As Donald Trump spoke to a gathering of world leaders, he steered his remarks toward the role that he says he played in calming last year's brief military flare-up between India and Pakistan. 

Turning to Sharif, Trump said he had spoken to PM Modi and described India as "a great country" and Modi as "a great person" and a good friend. Trump also repeated his claim that a quick phone call from him helped avert a wider conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. 

What did Trump say?

While speaking at his Board of Peace, the US President claimed that he saved millions of lives during the India-Pakistan conflict in 2025 and said that he threatened both countries with a “200 per cent tariff,” and this pressure made them halt the fighting. 

While referring to the 2025 India-Pakistan tensions, Trump said, “That war was raging. Planes were being shot down. And I got on the phone with both of them, and I knew them a little bit. I knew Prime Minister Modi very well, actually."

“I called them, and I said, listen, I’m not doing trade deals with you two guys if you don’t settle this up," he added.

The US President further said that he threatened both countries with heavy economic penalties to stop the fighting, stating, "If you fight, I’m going to put 200 per cent tariffs on each of your countries."

"They both wanted to fight. But when it came to money, there’s nothing like money. When it came to losing a lot of money, they said, I guess we don’t want to fight," he said, claiming that "we solved that deal in two, three days."

Trump also claimed that he saved millions of lives, stating that, "He (Pakistani PM) said in front of our Chief of Staff that President Trump saved 25 million lives when he stopped the war between us and India."

Did India attend the inaugural meeting?

India participated in the inaugural meeting of Trump’s Board of Peace on Gaza as an observer country.

India has not formally joined the Board of Peace but participated as an observer. According to the official list of attendees, India was represented by Namgya Khampa, the Chargé d’affaires at the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC.