Shashi Tharoor-led delegation in US to convey India's stance against terrorism

Washington: As part of its outreach through Operation Sindoor following the Pahalgam attack, an all-party Indian Parliamentary delegation led by Congress Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor arrived in Washington, the US capital, for a two-day visit after a successful trip to Brazil.

The delegation's goal was to demonstrate India's united and strong stance against Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism.

Indian Ambassador to the US, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, received the delegation at the airport on Tuesday evening.

The Indian delegation, which arrived here late on Tuesday evening, would hold meetings till June 5 with several members of the US Congress and the Donald Trump administration, think tanks, media and policymakers to brief them on Operation Sindoor and India's zero-tolerance policy against terrorism.

Taking to social media platform X on Tuesday evening, the Indian Embassy in the US said: "An all party delegation led by Shashi Tharoor arrives in Washington D.C. Over the next two days the delegation will be meeting members of the US Congress and administration, think tanks, media and policymakers to brief them on Operation Sindoor and India's strong stand against terrorism."

Apart from Tharoor, the nine-member delegation includes Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) MP Shambhavi Choudhary, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MP Sarfaraz Ahmad, Telugu Desam Party MP GM Harish Balayogi, Bharatiya Janata Party MPs -- Shashank Mani Tripathi, Bhubaneswar Kalita, Tejasvi Surya, Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora and Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu.

After a successful visit to Guyana, Panama, Colombia and Brazil, the delegation's visit to the US marks its final stop in India's global diplomatic outreach campaign to highlight Operation Sindoor and reinforce its position against Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism.

"Touchdown in Washington, DC. #OperationSindoor," said Shiv Sena MP and one of the delegation members, Milind Deora, on X.

Interestingly, the Indian delegation will see a face-off with a Pakistani delegation led by their former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who will also be in the US at the same time. However, Shashi Tharoor has expressed confidence in pushing India's message on terrorism across.

Earlier on Monday, the delegation led by Congress MP Tharoor in Brazil had said that the upcoming visit to the US will be a crucial opportunity to counter misinformation and competing narratives surrounding Operation Sindoor.

His remarks came amid ongoing assertions by US President Donald Trump that his administration helped broker the ceasefire understanding between India and Pakistan -- claims New Delhi firmly denies.

According to Indian officials, it was Pakistan that reached out to India with a request to halt military action following the Pahalgam terror attack, not the other way around.

Tharoor underlined the importance of setting the record straight during the delegation's final leg of international outreach in Washington.

Speaking to IANS on the sidelines of engagements in Brazil, Tharoor had said, "Washington is a particularly interesting case because it is a large country, a superpower with enormous influence in the world, and there are many crosscurrents of information, misinformation, and other narratives circulating. So, we have quite a lot of work to do there."

The Congress MP had also said that several countries need to understand that dialogue is not possible with the nations that facilitate cross-border terrorism.

Emphasising the importance of international solidarity against terrorism, Tharoor noted, "We're looking for solidarity in our struggle against terrorism. What is very clear in these countries is that some of these issues they understand, some they don't fully understand. And the natural instinct in many countries is to say -- why not have a dialogue? But it's very difficult to have a dialogue with people who are pointing a gun at your head, who are sending terrorists across your border. That becomes a problem."

He stressed that dismantling the infrastructure of terrorism must precede any meaningful engagement.

"The first thing should be for them to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism. And then we can see what kind of talking we can do. Stop giving safe haven to killers and murderers, and instead, arrest and prosecute them. We need a different story, but they have not been doing that in Pakistan," Tharoor said.

"For us, in these countries, understanding our position and leaving with a sense of solidarity was important -- and that we have done," he added.

With inputs from IANS