"Bilawal Bhutto should seriously curb terrorism if allowed," says former Indian envoy Taranjit Singh Sandhu

Washington, DC [United States], June 5 : Former Indian Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu took a sharp dig at Pakistan's political and security leadership, urging Bilawal Bhutto to seriously focus on curbing terrorism in Pakistan, "if the Field Marshal allows him or maybe tomorrow's Super Field Marshal...," underscoring the deep influence of the military establishment over civilian rule in the country.

Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora echoed the criticism, saying, "It's unfortunate that a younger politician from Pakistan, who should be spending more of his time fixing his own country, is in the US, defending some of those who may be responsible for assassinating his mother. That's the reality and that's the difference."

These remarks came during the ongoing US visit of an all-party Indian parliamentary delegation led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor. The delegation is engaged in a diplomatic outreach to highlight India's firm stance against terrorism, especially after the recent Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir and India's subsequent Operation Sindoor.

Tharoor criticised Pakistan's repeated denials of its involvement in terrorism, pointing to a "pattern since 1989 of repeated attacks, every one of which was denied by Pakistan and every one of which has been traced to Pakistan." He cited the 2008 Mumbai 26/11 attacks as an example, highlighting how "one of the terrorists was captured alive, and his address in Pakistan, where he lived, who trained him, everything was out." He said, "It is no longer possible for Pakistan to keep on denying."

During an interaction at the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC, Tharoor also spoke about diplomatic efforts to correct misunderstandings abroad. Referring to Colombia's withdrawal of a statement issued after Operation Sindoor, he called it a "fine gesture" following India's diplomatic engagement.

"In Colombia, they had issued a slightly disappointing statement... I took the Director for Asia in the ministry aside and told her we have received this well and if something could be done. The next morning, they withdrew that statement," Tharoor said. He added, "Distant countries often lack context when reacting to conflicts and may issue routine remarks... everyone is in favour of peace... when you have the context explained and the whole circumstances explained, you could see the better of it."

The delegation, which arrived in the US after concluding their visit to Brazil, includes Shambhavi Chaudhary (Lok Janshakti Party), Sarfaraz Ahmed (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha), G M Harish Balayogi (Telugu Desam Party), Shashank Mani Tripathi, Tejaswi Surya, Bhubaneswar Kalita (all from BJP), Mallikarjun Devda (Shiv Sena), former Indian Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu, and Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora.

The visit aims to brief key US stakeholders on Operation Sindoor, India's diplomatic and military response to the Pakistan-sponsored terror attack in Pahalgam that claimed 26 lives on April 22.

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