New Delhi: An all-party delegation led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has returned to the US to brief members of the Congress, political leaders and think tanks on India’s new approach to combating cross-border terrorism, including the military strikes on terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack.
Over the next two days, the delegation will interact with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, House Foreign Affairs Committee and the India Caucus, and also meet experts from leading think tanks in Washington. Members of the team will speak at the Council for Foreign Relations in Washington on Thursday.
The delegation initially travelled to New York last month and then visited Guyana, Panama, Colombia and Brazil before returning to the US. It will be in the US at the same time as a Pakistani delegation led by former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.
Besides Tharoor, the delegation includes BJP MP Bhubaneswar Kalita, Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora, JMM MP Sarfraz Ahmad and former diplomat Taranjit Singh Sandhu, who served as ambassador to the US.
Meanwhile, Bhutto-Zardari, who has been tapped by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to spearhead the country’s efforts to seek support in the US and Europe, has contended that cooperation between the intelligence agencies of India and Pakistan could help tackle terrorism in South Asia.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, Bhutto-Zardari, who has been tapped by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to spearhead the country’s efforts to seek support in the US and Europe, has contended that cooperation between the intelligence agencies of India and Pakistan could help tackle terrorism in South Asia.
{{/usCountry}}Addressing a news conference at the UN Headquarters on Tuesday, Bhutto-Zardari said: “I am completely confident that if ISI and RAW were ready to sit down and work together to fight these forces, we would see a significant decrease in terrorism in both India and Pakistan.”
He urged the world community to remain engaged in South Asia, warning that the risk of conflict between India and Pakistan had grown after the understanding between them on May 10 to stop military actions.
“With the intervention of the international community - and I would like to mention particularly the role played by US President Donald Trump and his team led by secretary of state Marco Rubio - we did manage to achieve a ceasefire between India and Pakistan. This is a welcome first step, but it’s only a first step,” he said.
Trump has repeatedly said that the US brokered the truce between India and Pakistan, though Indian officials have insisted the May 10 understanding was reached through direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations of the two sides.
Bhutto-Zardari also said diplomacy and dialogue is the only “viable path to peace” and reiterated Pakistan’s willingness to engage in talks with India, including cooperation on counter-terrorism. “We can’t leave the fate of 1.7 billion people in the hands of non-state actors and terrorists,” he said.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 to target terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), triggering four days of intense clashes that saw both sides using drones, missiles and long-range weapons.