India, May 23 -- The understanding between India and Pakistan on May 10 to halt fighting and military actions was "negotiated directly" by the militaries of the two sides without the involvement of any other country, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Friday.

The trigger for the understanding after four days of hostilities was Indian military strikes that "hit [Pakistan] very hard" on the morning of May 10, Jaishankar said in an interview with Danish broadcaster TV 2 while responding to a question on the role played by US President Donald Trump in ending the hostilities.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that the US helped broker a ceasefire, even suggesting that he used trade as leverage to get India and Pakistan to stop fightin...