India, May 13 -- NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) leader and former Defence Minister Sharad Pawar has raised sharp questions over the Modi government's silence on US involvement in brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan. He demanded the Centre explain why American mediation was permitted despite the binding bilateral nature of the Shimla Agreement.

"This is the first time an American authority has publicly commented on our internal matters, which is not good," Pawar told reporters, reacting to US President Donald Trump's announcement that both countries had agreed to a "full and immediate" ceasefire amid heightened military confrontation. Pawar stressed that the Shimla Pact explicitly states that all issues between India and Pakistan...