When I first became the chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, I declared that there is no such thing as a Congress foreign policy or a BJP foreign policy; there is only Indian foreign policy and national interests. Whichever side of the political divide we may be on, when it comes to matters of national security, and when at stake are the sovereignty of India and the safety of its populace, we rally together in the national interest.
Our democratic history is replete with instances of former prime ministers—from Indira Gandhi and Narasimha Rao to Manmohan Singh—calling upon political colleagues and eminent Indians across party lines to present India’s case overseas on matters of national importance. In this spirit of bipartisanship at moments of national peril, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government dispatched seven multi-party delegations of MPs and former diplomats to foreign capitals. Representing a cross-section of the political firmament and their composition reflecting India’s regional and religious diversity, yet firmly united in their message, these delegations strove to underscore India’s zero-tolerance approach to cross-border terrorism in the wake of the Pahalgam horror and Operation Sindoor.
Another vital goal was to impress on our international interlocutors Pakistan’s complicity in such acts of terror and its malign nurturing of terror groups, weaponised against India as an instrument of state policy. The ultimate objective of this outreach was to garner global support for India’s counterterrorism efforts—all while driving home the point that the perpetrators of terror and the victims of it must never be spoken of in the same breath, let alone be the object of mediation, as if terrorists and their victims could be placed on an equal plane.
But even while these delegations where on their missions, conflicting views surfaced in our congested (and often confused) news space on the question of their success, with some dismissing it as a drain on taxpayers’ money. The truth is that we have succeeded, emphatically and evidently, in what we set out to do. As the leader of one of the seven delegations, these are my reflections on some of the achievements of our outreach across five nations in South, Central, and North America: Guyana, Panama, Colombia, Brazil, and the US.
In all these five countries, our delegation was greeted with tremendous enthusiasm and regard for India’s democratic, inclusive, and united approach to this crucial national security concern. With our diversity—of political affiliation, faith, mother tongue and native region—on ample display, yet speaking the same language of resolve and righteousness, we undertook a series of high-profile engagements. Notably, we met the President of Guyana, Mohamed Irfaan Ali; Prime Minister of Guyana, Brigadier Mark Anthony Phillips; Vice President of Brazil, Geraldo Alckmin; and Vice President of the US, J D Vance.
To ensure that our message resounds in the highest decision- and law-making forums of these countries, we provided thorough briefings on Operation Sindoor and India’s evolving counterterrorism policy to government officials and lawmakers—including the heads of external affairs committees in all five countries, presidents of the national assembly in two, and in the US, the Senate foreign relations committee, House foreign affairs committee, and the India Caucus). To shape public discourse in these nations, we extensively engaged with the media and policy experts, participated in think tank deliberations—as with the Council on Foreign Relations in the US— and brought the Indian diaspora up to speed with developments back at home, providing them with accurate information to serve as advocates for India’s position. Though our target audience was those concerned with foreign policy who could make an impact and we had no unrealistic expectations of mass media attention in a crowded news space, our outreach was positively covered by major outlets in the countries concerned. While anchored in the core issue of terrorism, our engagements also spanned broader domains of strategic, technological, defence, trade and economic cooperation, serving to deepen our bonds with the five nations.
In our consistent narrative across these capitals, we successfully explained the rationale for Operation Sindoor—including the cultural and symbolic resonances of the term itself—and garnered support for India’s sovereign right to self-defence. Far from launching the opening salvo in a protracted war, on the night of May 6-7 India only struck—with exemplary precision and restraint—terror infrastructure in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Pakistani Punjab. The skirmishes that followed were solely a result of escalatory, disproportionate, and provocative Pakistani aggression, to which we retaliated targeting military sites and airbases in Pakistan while they attempted to bombard civilian clusters in India.
In response, these nations strongly supported our fight against cross-border terrorism, acknowledged the severity of the threat it poses to our growth, and minutely discussed Pakistan’s complicity in fomenting terror—manifest in the presence of Pakistani military officials and policemen in uniform at the funeral of notorious terrorists killed during Operation Sindoor.
Among the more singular achievements of my delegation was Colombia’s substantive realignment of its official stance, which had condoled with Pakistan for supposed civilian casualties resulting from Operation Sindoor. Once we voiced our dismay and detailed the responsible measures taken, the Colombians retracted that statement, expressing unequivocal support for our position. This shift is helpful as Colombia is slated to become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2026, making its support on issues of national security, and counterterrorism essential. Equally valuable was current SC member Panama’s backing of India’s quest for a permanent UNSC seat. Even as we shored up support in the US, a diplomatic mission from Pakistan sought to challenge our saga of fortitude with self-delusional utterances, characteristic denials of complicity, and a risible narrative of victimhood portraying Pakistan as the primary victim of terror! (You cannot, I retorted quoting Hillary Clinton, breed vipers in your backyard and expect them to bite only your neighbours.)
India’s outlook resonated far more strongly with American lawmakers, who echoed our stance even while engaging with the Pakistani delegation, with one Congressman demanding Pakistan eliminate such “vile” terror outfits as Jaish-e-Mohammad, thus reinforcing the urgency of India’s position. We found understanding across the board for our view that we could not be expected to dialogue with Pakistan on issues other than the onus upon them to credibly dismantle the terror infrastructure on their territory.
My delegation has come away from its mission immensely satisfied, having generated consequential international understanding and support for India’s just crusade against terror. For me, mingling with that sense of satisfaction is gratitude for the opportunity to serve my nation at a time of crisis—one which, though surmounted for now, may well confront us again. If it does, we can take solace from the fact that when it mattered most, we set aside our differences and, uniting in purpose and patriotism, rose as Indians in defence of India. In a democracy as chaotic and clamorous as ours, this unity in troubled times is indispensable.
Shashi Tharoor is a fourth-term Lok Sabha MP, Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, and Sahitya Akademi-winning author of 24 books
(Views are personal)