India to expose Pakistan-sponsored terrorism; all-party delegations to visit countries

New Delhi: Days after the border tensions, the Government of India has decided to send several all-party delegations to different countries, starting next week, to expose Pakistan-sponsored terrorism at the world forum. The exercise is aimed at presenting India's stance against Pakistan on terror comes in the wake of Operation Sindoor — the Indian offensive against terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed.

The government has sounded out senior leaders, including MPs, of various parties from both the ruling and the opposition, and some parties have also given their go-ahead to the presence of their members for the diplomatic exercise.

Sources told PTI that some former ministers would lead delegations of MPs from different parties to a number of countries worldwide.

They added that each delegation is likely to have seven to eight members and may visit four to five countries. While the exact number of delegations or their members was not clear, some leaders said more than 30 MPs could be included in the outreach exercise.

The delegations will visit different countries for 10 days, and the MPs will visit different blocs of countries, as earmarked by the government. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) will brief the MPs before they depart.

The sources said the parties whose MPs will be part of the delegation are the BJP, Congress, TMC, DMK, NCP (SP), JDU, BJD, Shiv Sena (UBT), CPI(M), and some others.

A leader of a party that has been sounded out for the exercise said they were told to be ready to leave by May 22-23 for 10 days and that the MEA would contact them to provide the necessary details, including the itinerary.

The sources said Former Union minister Anurag Thakur and BJP MP from Odisha Aparajita Sarangi are among the ruling party members to be part of the delegations.

Former Union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Rajiv Pratap Rudy and BJP MPs Samik Bhattacharya and Brij Lal are also expected to be part of the delegations. The government has tapped at least four MPs from the Congress, in addition to members of other parties, for the diplomatic exercise.

Tharoor, John Brittas among MPs
Congress MPs included in the government's list are Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari, Salman Khurshid, and Amar Singh. The party has confirmed it would be a part of the delegations, the sources said.

The TMC's Sudip Bandyopadhyay, JDU's Sanjay Jha, BJD's Sasmit Patra, John Brittas of the CPI(M), Priyanka Chaturvedi of Shiv Sena (UBT), Supriya Sule of NCP (SP), the DMK's K Kanimozhi, AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi and AAP's Vikramjit Sawhney are also being tapped to be part of the delegations, the sources said.

While Khurshid, a former external affairs minister, has been asked to lead a delegation of seven MPs to south and southeast Asia, covering countries such as South Korea, Japan, and Singapore, Baramati MP Sule is likely to lead a delegation to the Middle East and Africa, including Oman, Egypt, Kenya, and South Africa, the sources said.

Congress leader Tewari is likely to lead a delegation to Europe or the Middle East and has been asked about his availability, the sources said. Tharoor is likely to lead a delegation to the US, they added.

While Thakur will be part of the delegation that will visit the Middle East and Africa, his colleague Sarangi will be part of the delegation to southeast Asia. Sawhney will also be a part of this delegation.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Chaturvedi will be part of a delegation to Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Kuwait and Bahrain. This delegation will also include the Congress' Amar Singh.

The sources said former Union minister Ghulam Nabi Azad would likely be part of one delegation.

While the government did not officially announce the delegations, Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh told PTI that Union minister Kiren Rijiju had spoken to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharje about this.

Ramesh claimed that the prime minister and his party have continuously defamed the Congress despite the opposition party's call for unity and solidarity.

"Now, suddenly, the prime minister has decided to send multi-party delegations abroad to explain India's stand on terrorism from Pakistan. The Indian National Congress always takes a position in the supreme national interest and never politicises national security issues like the BJP does. Hence, the INC will definitely be a part of these delegations," he said in a post on X.

Under Operation Sindoor, India carried out precision strikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir early on May 7 in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.

Earlier all-party delegations
Earlier, too, India had sent such all-party delegations to international forums to put forth India's cases. In 1994, Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao sent a delegation comprising then Leader of the Opposition and BJP stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former J&K Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, Salman Khurshid and others to defeat a Pakistan-sponsored case at the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) in Geneva. The resolution sought to censure India on human rights in Jammu & Kashmir.

After the Mumbai terror attack in 2018, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sent multi-party delegations to different continents with dossiers on Pakistan’s links to the terror attacks. Following the diplomatic offensive, the United Nations Security Council and Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey-listed Pakistan for the first time, forcing it to act tough on terror networks operating out of the country.