19-05-2025
Delegation row mars message of unity
The government has done well to assign seven multi-party parliamentary delegations to world capitals to explain India's position on the Pahalgam terror attack, its response in the form of Operation Sindoor, and Pakistan's use of terror as State policy. The exercise will demonstrate unity and the country's resolve to face external threats and challenges. The delegations will comprise diplomats and specialists and represent the country's social and political spectrum. The destinations include the US, European Union countries, Russia, Japan, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations, Indonesia, and countries in Africa. It is to be noted that China and Turkey, who supported Pakistan during the conflict, have been excluded. The delegation's briefings can complement India's efforts at multinational forums to expose Pakistan as the has, in the past, sent all-party delegations to other countries for diplomatic engagements. In 1994, then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao sent a delegation consisting of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Farooq Abdullah to Geneva to counter a Pakistani resolution on Kashmir at the UN Human Rights Commission. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also sent a multi-party delegation to other countries after the 2008 Mumbai attack. The delegations being sent now have the task of correcting misconceptions and projecting India's positions effectively – India did not receive extensive support from the world during the post-Pahalgam conflict. There is a tendency to equate India and Pakistan and the world needs to be told about the inherent flaw in this equation – India is a victim of terror while Pakistan has been the source of this terror, backed by its government and military establishment. India is a functioning democracy while Pakistan has a system run by the armed forces. The distinctions are important and the world should not lose sight of unfortunate controversy has emerged about the composition of the delegations, especially about the members from the Congress party. The Congress has the grouse that it was not properly consulted before the selection of its members. The government accepted only one name from the four put forward by the party. It may have done some politicking with the appointment of Shashi Tharoor as the leader of one of the delegations. It should have desisted from the temptation to embarrass the Congress now. Tharoor has recently expressed opinions, including about Operation Sindoor, that are different from his party's. However, he is an articulate leader and is experienced in diplomacy at the international level. The Congress may have overreacted, and was churlish in its response, especially in a situation where the greater national interest should have been its main consideration.
