"Every Indian stood together": All-party delegation member Hemang Joshi highlights country's unity after Pahalgam terror attack

Tokyo [Japan], May 24 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party MP Hemang Joshi, who is part of the multi-party delegation to Japan, hailed "high Indian values", noting that the country stood together despite terrorists' intention of "spreading religious disharmony" in India by killing 26 tourists in Pahalgam on April 22.

During an interaction with the Indian Community in Tokyo on Saturday, Hemang Joshi noted that no religious riot took place, and every Indian stood together after the attack.

"The business had flourished in Jammu and Kashmir in the last four years. Tourism was flourishing. There was democratic development, and the voter turnout was huge during the elections. To derail from all of this, they attacked by asking about the faith of the people, to spread religious disharmony in India, but because of the high Indian values, no internal religious riot took place and every Indian stood together," Hemang Joshi said.

Joshi is part of the Sanjay Kumar Jha-led delegation, which is currently in Japan and will head to other East Asian countries as part of India's global outreach against terrorism.

The other members of the delegation are BJP MPs Aparajita Sarangi, Brij Lal, Pradhan Baruah, CPI-M John Brittas, AITC's Abhishek Banerjee, former MEA Salman Khurshid, and Ambassador Mohan Kumar.

Meanwhile, John Brittas, called Pakistan a "theocratic state", and criticised it for terrorist activities in an attempt to "pull India down."

Brittas said, "India is a democratic country. Whereas Pakistan is a theocratic state. India wants to progress, and that is why Pakistan wants to pull us down. That is why all the terrorist activities take place."

Highlighting the different political allegiances of members of the delegation, Brittas emphasised the unity of all the parties in condemning terrorism and prioritising national interest.

"We are all from five different political parties, three of which are completely opposed to the ruling party, but we have all come here with a sense of purpose... We give priority to national interest," he said.

Earlier, the delegation held a meeting with Japan's Former Defence Minister Minoru Kihara and Shinako Tsuchiya, Director General of the International Bureau, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). (ANI)

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