India firms up global outreach plan to expose Pak on terrorism

After the success of Operation Sindoor that exclusively targeted terror hubs in Pakistan and the PoK, India is firming up plans for a massive global outreach to expose the western neighbour’s links with terrorists and its fake narratives around the Indian military operation.

The outreach will see at least eight groups of seven to eight MPs and senior politicians each travelling across the world to engage the political class and the media there on the Indian position vis-a-vis Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.

Key opposition faces are expected to lead the initiative, including former ministers Ghulam Nabi Azad, Salman Khurshid, Manish Tewari and Shashi Tharoor. Senior opposition leaders who will be part of the multi-party delegations include AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi, NCP SP’s Supriya Sule, Shiv Sena UBT’s Priyanka Chaturvedi, Biju Janata Dal’s Sasmit Patra, CPM’s John Brittas, Trinamool Congress’ Sudeep Bandopadhyay, DMK’s K Kanimozhi, Congress’ Amar Singh and Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab Vikramjit Sahney.

Former union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Anurag Thakur are also learnt to be on the list alongside BJP MP Aprajita Sarangi from Odisha and senior NDA leaders, including JD (U)’s Sanjay Jha and Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Shinde.

Past outreaches

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In 1994, then PM PV Narasimha Rao sent a delegation to the UN Human Rights Commission under then Leader of Opposition Atal Behari Vajpayee. The objective was to argue India’s position and thwart a Pakistan-backed resolution that sought to censure human rights violations in J&K. The resolution was defeated.

In 2008, after the Mumbai terror attacks, then PM Manmohan Singh had also sent all-party delegations to different countries to expose Pakistan’s links to terror organisations. This resulted in Pakistan being put on the Financial Action Task Force grey list for the first time.

The Tribune has learnt that Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju is coordinating with political party presidents for the purpose.

Rijiju spoke to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge this morning and discussed the names of four grand old party MPs the government has listed for the initiative. These include former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid; former I&B Minister Manish Tewari, former MoS (Foreign Affairs) Tharoor and Punjab MP Amar Singh.

Official sources indicated that Tharoor was likely to lead the delegation to the US and Tewari to Europe.

Sule will be the leader of an all-party delegation to Oman, Kenya, South Africa and Egypt. Khurshid is likely to lead the group to South East and East Asian countries Japan, South Korea and Singapore.

Another delegation will go to Kuwait, Bahrain and Algeria.

Top BJP sources said the exercise was aimed at achieving multiple objectives. For one, it would convey to the world a message of “national unity” in the face of Pakistani escalations.

Government leaders said the initiative, which was likely to be led by opposition leaders, was in line with the NDA regime’s policy of keeping the Opposition fully in the loop on Operation Sindoor by way of two all-party meetings.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh today said though Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not chair the all-party meetings or call a special Parliament session as demanded by the Opposition, the party would join the multi-party delegations being sent abroad.

“The Congress always takes a position in the supreme national interest and has never politicised national security issues like the BJP does. Hence, the Congress will definitely be a part of these delegations,” Jairam said.

On the tour’s expected outcomes, the sources said, “It will be a comprehensive tour where India will present its assessment on Pakistan’s involvement with UN-proscribed terror groups and how India has for decades lived with the Pakistani policy of perpetrating terror on its soil through proxies. The new Indian position will be stated that any future act of terror would be considered an act of war. Our long-held Kashmir policy will be made clear as also the fact that India and Pakistan have only two things to discuss — the return of the PoK and terrorism — and the format of discussion, if any, would be bilateral.”

Proposed from May 22 to June 3, the outreach will involve Indian political delegations meeting and engaging the top global leadership — political and intellectual — about the fact that Operation Sindoor was not an escalation but a response to Pakistan’s escalation in the form of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack which killed 26 defenceless people who were all asked their faith.

The delegation will convey to the world that Operation Sindoor was India’s calibrated military response to an evolving pattern of asymmetric warfare, one that increasingly targets unarmed civilians along with military personnel.

The key message would be India’s response was deliberate, precise and strategic, and without crossing the Line of Control or international boundary, the Indian forces struck terrorist infrastructure and eliminated multiple threats.

“No civilian areas of Pakistani military installations were targeted,” said the sources.

The initiative comes amid repeated claims by US President Donald Trump that he helped ease tensions between India and Pakistan.

India has said the pause on hostilities was reached bilaterally between the two nations.

It also coincides with India’s ongoing efforts to get The Resistance Front (TRF) proscribed by the UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee. An Indian technical team met this committee in New York today.