New Delhi: The vast diplomatic initiative by India to reach out to nearly 33 countries with a message against terrorism in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack begins today. The 7 delegations comprising parliamentarians from across the political parties will have decided to visit foreign countries and the United Nations Security Council to project countries’ consensus and for a purposeful approach to combating terrorism.
Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary, briefed the 7 delegations yesterday. From Sunday onwards, all the delegations will be on their way to foreign countries to approach. During Tuesday briefing, Mr Misri has clarified on what basis 33 countries were selected for the outreach programme. Citing him, BJP MP Aparajita Srangi said about 15 of them are members of the UN Security Council, which has five permanent and 10 non-permanent members that are replaced every two years.
This list also includes five other countries that will become members of the UNSC shortly. Ms Sarangi is part of a delegation led by JDU’s Snajay Kumar Jha, who will travel to Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, and Singapore. It will be the first delegation to leave for the outreach programme today, with Japan being the first destination.
The government have perfectly decided that MPs from different parties should visit other countries together and present our narrative to bureaucracy and political representatives there, who will present our stand, and condemn Pakistan’s approach of promoting terrorism. This outreach follows Operation Sindoor, under which the Indian forces have struck terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir earlier this month in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
The Congress’s Shashi Tharoor would head these 7 delegations, the BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad and Baijayant Panda, the JDU’s Sanjay Kumar Jha, NCP’s Supriya Sule, Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Eknath Shinde, and the DMK’s Kanimozhi. Mr Jha’s delegation, comprising nine members, including the BJP’s Ms Sarangi, Brij Lal, Prasan Baruah, Hemang Joshi, and the CPM’s John Brittas, would leave for Japan around 11:30 am. The Trinamool Congress’s Abhishek Banerjee will also be part of this team after party MP Yusuf Pathan opted out of it.
