Mega diplomatic push via multi-party teams to exert pressure on Pakistan
NEW DELHI: With the Centre set to send nearly a dozen multi-party delegations to various important countries to exert diplomatic pressure on Pakistan, it was learnt that the lists of Opposition and ruling coalition's MPs were prepared by the Prime Minister's Office and conveyed to respective political parties.
While MPs from various political parties were consulted by Union minister Kiran Rijiju, sources said the selection was done based on certain parameters, such as domain knowledge, articulation skills and representation of women and Muslims.
The delegations will brief the hosts on Pakistan's role in perpetrating cross-border terror in the April 22 Pahalgam attack, Operation Sindoor and the efforts by some countries to hyphenate India and Pakistan. 'There will be a briefing by the MEA before we leave. We may also present dossiers on Pakistan's links to the terror attacks,' said an MP.
The delegation may travel to 40-50 countries and are likely to start from May 22 or 23 for a period of 10 days. The focus will be more on Islamic countries, said an MP. The government is considering 7-8 eight delegations with 5-6 members each, said a source.
The likely representatives from Congress will be Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari, Salman Khurshid and Amar Singh, while DMK's Kanimozhi, CPI (M)'s John Brittas and AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi are likely to be part of the delegations.
While former Union minister Anurag Thakur, Aparajita Sarangi and Samik Bhattacharya and V Muralidharan are among the BJP MPs, TMC's Sudip Bandyopadhyay, JD(U)'s Sanjay Jha, BJD's Sasmit Patra and NCP-SP's Supriya Sule and J&K's Ghulam Nabi Azad are also likely to be part of the delegations. Several Opposition parties welcomed the move.
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