New Delhi, June 3 -- Ahead of his delegation's visit to the United States, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor shut down President Donald Trump's claims on brokering the peace deal between India and Pakistan, following days of heightened conflict, saying it was Islamabad that needed persuading and not New Delhi.

With a flourish aimed at shutting down all speculations, Shashi Tharoor said if Donald Trump or his senior officials had to persuade anyone to call off the conflict, "it would have been the persuasion of the Pakistanis."

"No one needed to persuade us to stop. We had already said to stop. If there was any persuasion by the American president or his senior officials, it would have been persuasion of the Pakistanis. They would have had to b...