Pakistan’s links to terror strikes abroad figures in Misri’s briefings to delegations

New Delhi: India’s multi-party delegations to different countries will emphasise Pakistan’s links to terrorism, including the 9/11 attack in the US, and assert that the recent conflict was triggered by the Pahalgam terror strike and not Operation Sindoor as alleged by Islamabad.

After the briefing by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri to four of the seven parliamentary delegations here on Friday, delegates said they will work to bust the Pakistani narrative of projecting India as the aggressor by underscoring the links of Pahalgam terrorists to the country.

Two of the four terrorists involved in the killing of 26 civilians, mostly tourists, in the famous tourist town were Pakistanis, some of the MPs said after the briefing.

With Pakistan protesting India’s decision to put the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, the delegations will be conveying to different countries that maintaining friendship and goodwill was a condition to the agreement, which Pakistan has breached with its constant involvement in terror strikes in India.

Misri noted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that “blood and water cannot flow together”. Three delegations were briefed by Misri on Tuesday and are already on tours of their destinations.

The delegation, which is led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, visiting the US is likely to underscore Pakistan’s links to al Qaeda, which was behind multiple terror strikes across the world, including the 9/11 attack in the North American country.

Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was traced to a hideout in Pakistan, they noted.

Sources said other delegations will also be emphasising this point, including in several Islamic countries that have been victims of terror incidents as well. Different delegations have been armed with dossiers specific to the countries they are visiting.

Asked about the US President Donald Trump’s claim of mediating the halting of military actions from both countries, an MP said different countries may have spoken to representatives of the two countries but the decision was arrived at bilaterally at the levels of two DGMOs at the request of Pakistan. An MP said, “Pakistan has been building this false narrative that India initiated the hostilities with Operation Sindoor. But our point will be that our military operation was in retaliation to the April 22 Pahalgam attack. And we launched precise attacks on terror sites and not on military facilities or civilians.”