India Sends MPs to Expose Pakistan’s Role in Terror

New Delhi:India is all set to launch a high-intensity diplomatic offensive aimed at rallying global opinion against Pakistan's continued sponsorship and sheltering of terrorist networks. This initiative follows the brutal Pahalgam attack last month. To drive home its message, the Indian government will dispatch all-parliamentary delegations to key world capitals and influential nations. The outreach is scheduled to begin after May 22.

While the Congress is yet to name its representative to join the all-party delegation, the government has reportedly named Congress MP Shashi Tharoor to lead the team. This comes a day after the Congress snubbed Tharoor for crossing the "Lakshman rekha".

Tharoor is the chairman of the parliamentary committee on external affairs. While there has been no official confirmation from the Congress, sources revealed that the Modi government approached Tharoor to lead the all-party delegation to the US and Europe.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Friday said that Union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju has spoken to the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who will depute party leaders to be part of the delegation.

Besides Tharoor, AIMIM president and Hyderabad Asaduddin Owaisi is also expected to join the all-party delegation.

The government has reached out to other political outfits, which include the JD(U), TD, BJD, NCP and the NCP(SP). The mission will be carried out in coordination with the ministry of external affairs.

According to reports, the idea is to send five or six delegations to various countries, including Western and Gulf nations. Invitations have been reportedly sent to the MPs, with each delegation expected to comprise five to six MPs, who will visit different countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, South Africa, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Reports said that many Opposition MPs have received calls from the parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju inviting them to be part of the delegations in “national interest”.

The move to send all-party delegations is already drawing parallels to when the Congress-led government of then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao in 1994 decided to send a delegation headed by the then main Opposition BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee to attend a special session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) in Geneva to oppose a Pakistan-sponsored resolution on Kashmir that had sought to target India then on the human rights issue.

In the wake of the 26/11 attacks in 2008, the then UPA government led by Dr Manmohan Singh had also made a similar move, reports pointed out.

Former foreign minister and senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid told a media publication that he had received a call from the government on Thursday night and conveyed it to the Congress leadership, which will take a call.

“It is an all-party effort. All party groups. So I imagine that the party will take care of it. They probably will get in touch with the party. I have conveyed to the party that I have received a message. It is the prerogative of the party who they send,” Khurshid was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, accusing the BJP of "politicising" Operation Sindoor, Ramesh said. "We demanded an all-party meeting, but PM Narendra Modi was not present at the meeting. Mr Kharge and Rahul Gandhi wrote letters to Mr Modi to convene a special session of the Parliament, but that also did not happen. The Congress leaders are demanding unity, but on the other hand, the BJP is doing politics in the name of Operation Sindoor. But still the nation is first,” he said.

The Congress general secretary added: “The Prime Minister has refused to chair two all-party meetings on the Pahalgam terror attacks and Operation Sindoor. The Prime Minister has not agreed to call a special session of Parliament that the Indian National Congress has been demanding to demonstrate a collective will and reiterate the resolution passed unanimously by Parliament on February 22, 1994. The Prime Minister and his party have been defaming the Indian National Congress continuously even as it has called for unity and solidarity.”

Taking a dig at the Central government over calling a meeting of NDA chief ministers over Operation Sindoor, Ramesh said, “The PM has called for a meeting of only NDA chief ministers on May 25 to take political mileage from Operation Sindoor. But he now wants MPs from all parties to go abroad as a delegation for explaining India's stance on terrorism from Pakistan. The diplomatic initiative is badly needed, but why these double standards?"