NEW DELHI: Pakistan’s foreign minister Ishaq Dar has admitted that India has “categorically” denied any third-party mediation between the two countries post Operation Sindoor.” … India has categorically been stating it’s bilateral. So we don’t mind bilateral. When we met on 25th of July … a bilateral meeting between me and secretary Rubio in Washington, I asked him what happened to the dialogue [between India and Pakistan]. He said that India says that it is a bilateral issue,” Dar told Al Jazeera.“If any country wants dialogue, we are happy, we are welcome, we are a loving country. We believe that dialogue is the way forward,” Dar added. Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had told US President Donald Trump during a phone call that India will never countenance any form of mediation in its relations with Pakistan.“PM Modi emphasised that India has never accepted mediation, does not accept it, and will never accept it,” foreign secretary Vikram Misri had said in a statement detailing a 35-minute-long phone call between the two leaders in June.India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and PoK in response to the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, which killed 26 people. This led to four days of clashes between the two sides, which ended on May 10 after Pakistan’s DGMO reached out for a ceasefire.