Three more all-party delegations travel to West Asia, Africa and Americas
Delegations: one led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor travelling to US, another led by NCP-SP MP Supriya Sule travelling to Qatar, Egypt, Ethiopia, South Africa
New Delhi: Three all-party delegations on Saturday began their visits to Africa, the Americas and West Asia, including one led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor travelling to the US, as part of India’s outreach to inform partners of the zero tolerance policy for terrorism emanating from Pakistan.
The delegation led by Tharoor will visit the US, Panama, Guyana, Brazil and Colombia, while another team led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Baijayant Panda will visit Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Algeria.
The third delegation led by Nationalist Congress Party – Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SP) MP Supriya Sule will travel to Qatar, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Africa as part of India’s continuing efforts to inform its interlocutors about the country’s resolve to combat terrorism, as demonstrated by Operation Sindoor, which was launched on May 7 in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack last month that killed 26 civilians.
India is sending seven delegations to 33 countries around the world to brief officials, political leaders, parliamentarians and experts about the country’s new approach to tackling cross-border terrorism. The visit to the US is being seen as among the most crucial and the government decided to rope in Tharoor to lead the team going to Washington in view of his standing in Western capitals.
Meanwhile, an all-party delegation led by Janata Dal (United) MP Sanjay Kumar Jha arrived in South Korea on Saturday after completing a visit to Japan. It will meet senior officials of the foreign ministry, members of the National Assembly and representatives of think tanks in Seoul.
Another delegation led by DMK MP Kanimozhi briefed Russian journalists in Moscow on the objectives of Operation Sindoor and the new policy for fighting terrorism.
Members of the delegations have been briefed ahead of their departure by foreign secretary Vikram Misri, who highlighted India’s “new normal” in tackling cross-border terrorism as exemplified by the military strikes under Operation Sindoor on terrorist infrastructure in territories controlled by Pakistan.
Misri told the delegations that India will no longer allow terrorists to carry out their activities under the cover of Pakistan’s “nuclear blackmail” and that the Pakistani military establishment will have to pay for attacks through its terrorist proxies.
