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Terrorism, Pakistan and a united India: Listen to what Bharat's multiparty emissaries are messaging to the world

by Trans World Features | @twfindia 28 May 2025, 07:39 am

The Indian government on May 17 announced seven all-party delegations comprising 59 members, including 31 from the NDA and 20 from other parties, to visit key partner countries and push India’s zero-tolerance stance on terrorism after the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor.

The delegations, supported by former diplomats, are led by BJP’s Baijayant Jay Panda and Ravi Shankar Prasad, JD(U)’s Sanjay Jha, Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Shinde, Congress’s Shashi Tharoor, DMK’s Kanimozhi, and NCP’s Supriya Sule.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor in US:

Our first stop was the September 11 memorial. It was a "moving moment" but also a strong message—we stood in solidarity with a city "still bearing the scars of a savage terrorist attack," even as our own country faced another.

Photo: Sashi Tharoor/X

Unlike the US, we’ve had to "endure a far greater number of terrorist attacks in India". But this is a "shared global problem". A "scourge" we must fight unitedly.

We’re here to speak to a "cross-section of public and political opinion" about recent troubling events and to explain our thinking and concerns. Calm may reign on the India-Pakistan border now, but the "fundamental problem remains".

The attack was brutal: people were "identified by religion" and killed to "provoke a backlash"—since the "victims were overwhelmingly Hindu".

But I’m proud to say there was no backlash. Indians stood united. Even the Kashmiri Muslim population publicly rejected the atrocity.

Though I don’t work for the government—I represent an opposition party—I wrote in The Indian Express: “The enemy had come to hit hard—but hit smart.”

India sent a clear message: It would not take "terror lying down". With "calibrated, precise strikes", we showed it was not the start of a war but an "act of retribution".

Now, a new normal must prevail: no one in Pakistan should believe they can kill Indian citizens with impunity. There will be a price—and that price has been going up systematically.

AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi in Bahrain:

Our government has sent us over here — and various delegations comprising all-party Members of Parliament — to different parts of the world so that the world knows the threat which India has been facing for so many years.

The problem of terrorism "emanates from Pakistan only". Unless "Pakistan stops promoting, aiding, and sponsoring" these terrorist groups, this issue will persist.

Photo: X/PandaJay

"We have all the means to ensure the safety of not only Indians but anyone who lives in India."

"The government has made it very clear: the next time you take up this misadventure, the response will be beyond what they’re expecting."

I think there is unanimity in our country — irrespective of political affiliation. Yes, we have "political differences", but when it comes to the integrity of our country, it is high time that the neighbouring country understands.

"I would hope and request that the Bahrain government would help us in bringing Pakistan back to the FATF grey list — because this money has been used to support those terrorists."

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Supriya Sule in Qatar:

The Qatari government has "promised, reassured and reiterated" that they are committed to zero tolerance against terrorism.

This entire journey that has been in all the meetings that we've had, the government has reassured us that we "stand totally united against any terrorist attack" anywhere in the world.

Photo: X/IndEmbDoha

Qatar and India stand united and will "not tolerate any terrorist attacks against any human lives, especially our innocent citizens".

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi in Russia:

One of the terror organisations, harboured in Pakistan, "claimed responsibility twice". Yet Pakistan "protected" them in the United Nations Security Council and blocked efforts to name them—choosing instead to "spread false propaganda".

India had no choice but to respond. We responded responsibly. No "civilians were harmed", and no military bases were attacked. "We only targeted hubs where terrorists were being harboured and trained." "We passed the message to the military and government of Pakistan."

"India is clear: we will not come to the table for peace talks" while attacks continue under the cover of terrorism. We have proof. India has always stood for peace.

Our prime ministers have made honest efforts, but "Pakistan continues to train, harbour, and fund terrorists"—not just against India, but globally.

Photo: X/IndEmbMoscow

We’ve come to Russia to seek support, to explain our stand, and to ensure the message is clear: India will not watch terrorism.

We will not be blackmailed by threats of nuclear weapons. We want peace—but true, honest peace that ensures the safety of our innocent citizens. The effort for peace must come from both sides.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in Seoul:

Despite repeated terror attacks, including the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people, Pakistan has taken little to no action. The accused in the Mumbai case openly confessed to being born, raised, and trained in Pakistan.

In 2016, during the Pathankot attack, Pakistan requested a joint investigation. We honoured that, but allowing Pakistan to investigate is like "letting a thief investigate a heist he committed". After the Pulwama attack on April 22, we waited 14 days for Pakistan to respond—but there was no action.

Photo: X/abhishekaitc

"Our humility, our grace, is not a weakness. Our stand has been simple: You fire; now we fire. You stop; we stop. We don’t want war. We are the last ones in the world to be starting a war. We don’t want violence. We are a peace-loving nation."

South Korea is one of our "closest strategic partners", and we believe our ties will grow stronger.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Tejasvi Surya in Guyana:

Pakistan has tried to "needle and bleed India with a thousand cuts over the last seven decades", while we have focused our energies towards uplifting millions of our people towards a better standard of living and contributing our best to global welfare.

"Pakistan tries to claim to be a victim of terror. But in reality, it is an architect, sponsor, and benefactor of terrorism."

Photo: X/Tejasvi_Surya

"Terrorism that emanates from Pakistan is not just a concern for India or for the immediate geography that we come from but is also a global threat."

"Our priorities are very different. We are in no mood for a war with Pakistan or with anybody else."

Congress MP Manish Tiwari in Qatar:

If India is repeatedly and relentlessly subjected to terrorism, which emanates from our neighbour, then India reserves the right to respond with the full spectrum of measures which are available at its disposal, in a proportionate and in an anonymous development.

If anyone says that the "nuclear shield can be used as an instrument"—in order to continue the policy of perpetrating or using terror as an instrument of state policy—that notion should be disabused as early as possible.

Photo: X/ManishTerwari

There is enough space under the nuclear overhang for a conventional response, which would be "precise, pointed, and calibrated".

"India, which has fundamentally a peaceful ethos, cannot be and will not accept being repeatedly subjected to terror attacks from the hostile."

In a recent turn of events, Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif, who is currently touring Iran, on Monday expressed his willingness to talk with India to try to end the ongoing disputes between the two warring neighbours.