All-party delegation led by BJP's Baijayant Panda concludes four-country visit, departs for India

Algiers [Algeria], June 2 (ANI): The all-party delegation led by BJP MP Baijayant Panda has concluded its four-country visit and departed for India on Monday.

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The delegation, led by Panda, includes BJP MPs Nishikant Dubey, Phangnon Konyak and Rekha Sharma; AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi; Satnam Singh Sandhu and Ghulam Nabi Azad; and former Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla.

The delegation, during their visit, briefed the international partners on India's response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor, its broader fight against cross-border terrorism while engaging with leaders in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Algeria.

Prior to their departure, India's Ambassador to Algeria, Swati Vijay Kulkarni, highlighted the strong support extended by Algeria in combating terrorism, noting that the North African nation unequivocally condemned terrorism and affirmed its solidarity with India during the delegation's visit.

"As India's global diplomatic outreach, India launched 7 groups of all-party delegations to foster cooperation in combating terrorism. The outreach was taking place in the immediate aftermath of the deadly terror attack that happened in Pahalgam on 22nd April, Operation Sindoor and subsequent developments. One such delegation, led by MP Baijayant Panda and comprising very senior MPs and former Foreign Secretary, visited Algeria from 30th May to 2nd June. During their visit to Algeria, they had very successful and productive engagements. They had two important meetings... During all these engagements, Algeria strongly condemned terrorism. They said that Algeria stands with India on the issue of terrorism. They also said that Algeria will take only the side of justice. So, we are very happy that they have given a very clear and strong message for India to remain united on terrorism," Ambassador Kulkarni said.

Earlier, Panda said that India's appeal to place Pakistan back on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list is gaining significant resonance globally, emphasising the role of illicit financing in fuelling terrorism.

Panda highlighted Pakistan's misuse of funds for terrorism and its military, noting that the other Islamic countries had taken a strong stand against any kind of fundamentalism in their country.

"Pakistan is not interested in improving itself or helping its people... They have diverted the money for terrorism and its army and looted it... Terrorism is fuelled by two things. One is ideology and the other is illicit finance... Ideology-wise, these Islamic countries have taken a strong stand... They do not permit any kind of fundamentalism from their soil... Financing part is the other aspect," Panda stated.

"Pakistan for many years was under FATF, which monitored the legitimate use of funding, and thus there was a period of lull in terrorism... Now, for the last couple of years, they were released from the grey list, and now they are operating freely... Our appeal to them that Pakistan should be kept on the FATF grey list is getting a lot of resonance. The world is committed to not tolerating terrorism anymore," he added.

Greylisting Pakistan by the FATF will limit its access to international loans. Pakistan was included in the grey list in 2018 and removed from it in 2022. India has stated that it will leave no stone unturned to bring Pakistan onto the grey list again.

Meanwhile, Delegation members Satnam Singh Sandhu and Rekha Sharma, hailed the delegation's diplomatic outreach as a resounding success, stating that it has successfully exposed terrorist activities of Pakistan, while noting that all four countries, especially Algeria, endorsed India's zero-tolerance stance against terrorism and recognised the nation's challenges with cross-border terror. (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)