Islamabad/New Delhi, May 24 (IANS) Rattled and pushed on the back foot by the diplomatic and political blitzkrieg launched by India’s Operation Sindoor outreach missions, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will begin a six-day “diplomatic tour” to four “friendly nations” of Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan on Sunday even as the Bilawal Bhutto Zardari-led delegation – entrusted with presenting “Islamabad’s case to the world” – is still cooling heels at home.
From Tokyo and Moscow to Abu Dhabi, Guyana and beyond, the seven all-party delegations from India are currently visiting key partner countries, including members of the UN Security Council, exposing Pakistan and the global terror outfits operating from its soil besides carrying forth to the world New Delhi’s strong message of zero-tolerance against terrorism.
New Delhi’s massive exercise is giving sleepless nights to the Pakistani establishment as several countries – including Russia, Japan and the UAE – have not only severely condemned the heinous April 22 Pahalgam terror attack but also expressed full support for India’s resolve to counter cross border terrorism.
External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar jolted Pakistan further during his official six-day visit to the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany where he met the top leadership of the three countries and held discussions with his counterparts as India bolstered its outreach to Europe.
After having been cut to size by the Indian military during Operation Sindoor and failing massively in optics too, Islamabad had announced that a delegation led by Bilawal Bhutto will tour various countries to “communicate Pakistan’s perspective robustly”.
This was labelled as the third ‘copycat’ move by Islamabad after making a failed attempt to imitate India’s highly-successful and well-conducted press briefings on Operation Sindoor and Shehbaz Sharif visiting Army cantonment in Sialkot less than 24 hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s open and heartfelt conversation with the soldiers at Adampur Air Base post the success of Operation Sindoor.
While the Indian leaders are crisscrossing the globe and debunking Pakistan’s misinformation campaign with elaborate proofs, Sharif and Army Chief General Asim Munir – mocked and trolled even by Pakistanis, including former Prime Minister Imran Khan, for being promoted to the rank of a Field Marshal in spite of the humiliating defeat in Operation Sindoor – are now forced to make desperate moves.
Analysts believe that Sharif’s sudden decision to undertake a four-nation trip shows that Pakistan, having only a handful of ‘all-weather’ friends, is getting cornered.
Interestingly, Sharif went into a huddle with Bilawal Bhutto, who is also the Chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), on Friday in a meeting called to discuss Pakistan’s diplomatic response to India’s highly-successful outreach missions.
Former Foreign Minister of Pakistan Hina Rabbani Khar and Senator Sherry Rehman – who will be part of the delegation led by Bhutto – were also present during the meeting along with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Climate Change Minister Musadik Malik, Political Affairs Advisor Rana Sanaullah and other officials.
It was once again asserted during the meeting that the delegation will present Pakistan’s stance and narrative to the world “in a robust and effective manner”.
However, even the Pakistanis now believe – especially after watching the scale, enormity and success of Indian outreach delegations – that Islamabad’s exercise could well end up as a case of “too little, too late”.
–IANS
/as