Pak sends Bilawal-led delegation to US; stay overlaps with team Tharoor’s

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and Pakistan People’s Party leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will both be in Washington this week, leading their national delegations to push their respective agendas in the wake of Operation Sindoor.

This unusual overlap comes at a time when India and Pakistan are both trying to get the world’s attention after the Pahalgam terror attack.

Tharoor is leading an Indian parliamentary delegation to the US to make India’s stand on terrorism stronger and show how Pakistan is said to be helping terrorist groups. Around the same time, Pakistan has sent its own high-profile team to the US as part of a larger diplomatic effort to counter India's story after the recent four-day war.

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Pakistan’s diplomatic push

Led by Bhutto, Pakistan’s nine-member delegation includes three former foreign ministers—Hina Rabbani Khar, Khurram Dastgir Khan, and Sherry Rehman—as well as federal minister Musadik Malik, Senator Bushra Anjum Butt, and former foreign secretaries Jalil Abbas Jilani and Tehmina Janjua.

The team will go to New York, Washington DC, London, and Brussels to meet with the UN Secretary-General, the President of the UNGA, and ambassadors from important countries like China and Russia.

The trips are intended to “project Pakistan’s perspective on recent Indian aggression” and stress the importance of communication over conflict, according to Pakistan’s Foreign Office. In addition, the delegation is expected to voice concerns regarding the Indus Waters Treaty and advocate for its complete restoration.

These outreach efforts come after India sent its own multi-party teams to 33 global capitals to rally support and present evidence of Pakistan’s involvement in cross-border terrorism.

Team to Russia

Another Pakistani delegation, led by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister, Syed Tariq Fatemi, will visit Moscow from June 2. The details of its composition have not been shared yet.

The two delegations would engage in a series of meetings with the leadership of international bodies, public office holders, senior officials, parliamentarians, think tanks, media and diaspora, the Pakistan Foreign Office said.

"The visits of these delegations are aimed at projecting Pakistan's perspective on the recent Indian aggression," it said, adding that they would also “highlight that dialogue and diplomacy should take precedence over conflict and confrontation”.

Also read: Operation Sindoor drew a new red line of intolerance against terror: CDS

Rally statement controversy

On the ground, tensions between the two countries escalated after the Pahalgam attack, which killed 26 people. India responded with airstrikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and PoK on May 7. Pakistan attempted retaliatory strikes on May 8, 9, and 10, before both sides agreed to de-escalate following military-level talks.

At a recent public rally, Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan, the Speaker of Pakistan’s Punjab Assembly called the Pahalgam attacker a ‘martyr”. His claims that the attack was a “reaction” to India’s actions in Kashmir have provoked outrage and could make Pakistan’s foreign policy more difficult.