
In this image released by @IndiainROK via X on Sunday, May
25, 2025, a multi-party delegation including JD(U) MP Sanjay Jha, Congress
leader Salman Khurshid, BJP MPs Aparajita Sarangi, Brij Lal, Pradan Baruah and
Hemang Joshi, TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, CPI(M) leader John Brittas and others
with Ambassador of India to Korea Amit Kumar during a briefing, in South Korea.
(@IndiainROK via PTI Photo)
- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- “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.
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- 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.”
Also read: Qatar's Shura Council supports India's call to uproot terrorism: Supriya Sule
- “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.
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- 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”.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.”
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- 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.”
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- “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.
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- 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.
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- The delegation reiterated the Modi government's stand
against terrorism and said that dialogue with Pakistan cannot co-exist with
terror.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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!”
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- Meanwhile, the all-party delegation led by DMK MP Kanimozhi
Karunanidhi reached Slovenia for “Taking Bharat’s message to the world.”
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.