Misri briefs parliamentary delegations ahead of diplomatic outreach on Op Sindoor

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Tuesday briefed three of the seven multi-party delegations on Pakistan’s long sponsorship of terrorism in India and how the country is determined to respond strongly to any terror incident on its soil.

After the briefing, Congress leader Salman Khurshid said there was “no interference by anyone in the understanding reached between India and Pakistan”.

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“Politics within the country is our right, our duty, it is different. But outside the country, what we have to say, is different,” Mr Khursid who is a member of one of the multi-party delegations said while asserting “the cessation was initiated by the Pakistan DGMO, and there was no mediation by anyone in understanding between India and Pakistan.”

“….whatever has happened, has happened only between the two nations. When the matter escalated, it was between our two nations. When it ended, it ended between the two nations. It was initiated by the Pakistan DGMO, they said that we should end this. We said that it should be done if they are ready,” Mr Khurshid asserted after the briefing.

“Our message to world leaders will be that enough is enough and that Pakistan has acted like a thief asked to probe his own crime whenever India has in the past trusted its words on acting against terrorism,” Janata Dal(U) leader Sanjay Jha, who is leading the delegation to Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia, said.

Shiv Sena leader Shrikant Shinde, who is leading a delegation to the UAE and some African countries, said they will highlight Pakistan’s links to terror incidents in India.

Misri had on Monday appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, headed by Congress Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor, to provide a comprehensive briefing on the Operation Sindoor and recent tensions between India and Pakistan. He had clarified that the US had no role to play in clinching a ceasefire between India and Pakistan and that the plea had come from Pakistan’s Director-General of Military Operations (DGMO) to his counterpart in Delhi.

He had further clarified that it was Pakistan which had reached out to India for a ceasefire after the precision strikes by the Indian armed forces hit Pak military installations, including a China-made missile defence system in Lahore and the strategically important Nur Khan air base.

The government on Saturday had announced plans to dispatch multiple delegations of Members of Parliament from across the political spectrum to major world capitals for a diplomatic outreach to expose Pakistan’s hand in the recent Pahalgam terror attack and to mobilise global support against cross-border terrorism.

The MPs who were shortlisted to lead the seven delegations include Congress’ Shashi Tharoor, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Ravi Shankar Prasad, and Baijayant Panda, Janata Dal (United)’s Sanjay Kumar Jha, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, Nationalist Congress Party (SP)’s Supriya Sule, and Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Eknath Shinde.

According to the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, these All-Party Delegations will be visiting important partner nations, including members of the United Nations Security Council, later this month likely from May 22 to June 1. The countries where the delegations will be dispatched include the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, South Africa, Egypt, the United States, and Japan.