New York/Manama/Seoul: India now has a new approach in combating cross-border terrorism from Pakistan and anyone involved in such crimes will not go unpunished, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said here hours before he led a delegation of Parliamentarians to Guayana.
Tharoor made the remarks at a community event in New York as the delegation made a stopover — during which he and other members of the delegation also paid tributes at the 9/11 memorial — in the American city before leaving for Guyana.
In Bahrain, the all-party Indian parliamentary delegation on Sunday briefed Bahrain’s Deputy Prime Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa about the challenge of cross-border terrorism facing India and New Delhi’s firm resolve to combat it.
Separate Indian delegations also briefed political leaders in South Korea and Slovenia on India’s policy of zero tolerance in the wake of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people died.
“India stands together in declaring zero tolerance for terrorism,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in a post on X as he lauded the efforts put in by the all-party delegations.
In an interaction hosted by the Consulate General of India in New York with a select group of prominent members of the Indian-American community and individuals from leading media and think tanks on Saturday, Tharoor said that India’s message to Pakistan has been clear: “We didn’t want to start anything. We were just sending a message to terrorists.”
“This has now got to be a new norm. No one sitting in Pakistan is going to be allowed to believe that they can just walk across the border and kill our citizens with impunity. There will be a price to pay, and that price has been going up systematically,” Tharoor said.
Pakistan covets India’s territory, and they want to have it at any price, he said, adding: “And if they can’t get it through conventional means, they’re willing to get it through terrorism. That is not acceptable, and that’s really the message that we are here to give all of you in this country and elsewhere”.
Tharoor and other members of the delegation visited the 9/11 Memorial in New York “in a spirit of solidarity” but which was also meant “to send a very strong message that we are here in a city, which is still bearing the scars of that savage terrorist attack, in the wake of yet another terrorist attack in our own country,” he said, a reference to the April 22 Pahalgam attack.
In Bahrain capital Manama, after meeting of the delegation, led by BJP MP Baijayant Jay Panda, with Bahrain’s Deputy Prime Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa; Ali bin Saleh Al Saleh, the chairman of Shura Bahrain, the upper house of the legislative body of Bahrain, and Abdulnabi Salman Ahmed, First Deputy Speaker, Council of Representatives.
The Indian delegation “underscored India’s resolve to fight against terrorism and strengthen bilateral ties,” said a post on X by the Indian Embassy in Bahrain.
On their first day Saturday, the Indian MPs also met prominent Indians and civil society members when Panda said, “Bahrain and India have a deep and long-standing relationship… I would like to thank the government of Bahrain for the consistent stand that it has taken. We truly appreciate Bahrain’s strong comments during recent developments.”
AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, also a member of the delegation, while answering a question during the meeting, said, “Our government has sent us here, and various other delegations comprising all party members across various parts of the world, so that the world knows of the threat that India has been facing.”
“The terrorists have justified killings of innocent people in India. …. In our opinion, there is no difference between terrorists in Pakistan and ISIS takfiri ideology,” Owisi said.
In South Korea, the all-party parliamentary delegation led by JD(U) MP Sanjay Jha on Sunday shared with the members of the Indian diaspora the insights on the military campaign Operation Sindoor, launched in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.
The delegation reiterated the Modi government’s stand against terrorism and said that dialogue with Pakistan cannot co-exist with terror.
The team also held “substantive interactions” with eminent Korean dignitaries, including former Foreign Minister Dr. Yoon Young-kwan, Vice-Chairman of Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee Rep. Kim Gunn, former Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, Director of the National Counter-Terrorism Center, Major Gen Shin Sang-gyun, former Korean Ambassadors to India, Amb. Shin Bong-kil and Amb. Lee Joon-gyu, the Indian Embassy in Seoul said in a post on X.
One of the members of the delegation to Seoul, Abhishek Banerjee of TMC, said, “The dialogue spanned issues of peace, regional stability, and strengthening multilateral efforts to confront the threat of terror,” he said in a post on X.
The multi-party delegation led by NCP MP Supriya Sule met with Dr. Hamda Al Sulaiti, Deputy Speaker of the Qatar Shura Council and other Qatari MPs in Doha on Sunday taking “India’s strong message against terrorism to the world!”
Meanwhile, the all-party delegation led by DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi reached Slovenia for “Taking Bharat’s message to the world.”
All the delegations described the Indian diaspora as a “force multiplier” and asked the members to help sensitise public opinion and political opinion in their respective countries about India’s stance on combating terror.
These delegations are among the seven multi-party delegations India has tasked to visit 33 global capitals to reach out to the international community on Pakistan’s designs and India’s response to terror.
Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated after the April 22 Pahalgam attack, which claimed 26 lives. India carried out precision strikes as part of Operation Sindoor on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in the early hours of May 7.
It was followed by Pakistan’s attempt to attack Indian military bases on May 8, 9, and 10. The Indian side responded strongly to the Pakistani actions.
The on-ground hostilities ended with an understanding of stopping the military actions following talks between the directors general of military operations of both sides on May 10.
