UK, US, Middle East: India's Mega Diplomatic Outreach - Who Goes Where

The Centre on Saturday released the list of seven all-party delegations that will travel to various countries to convey India's message of zero-tolerance against terrorism and Operation Sindoor, which was launched on May 7 after a deadly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam last month.

The seven delegations have 59 members, including 31 political leaders from the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and 20 politicians from other parties. They will be assisted by former diplomats.

These delegations will be led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs Baijayant Jay Panda and Ravi Shankar Prasad, Congress's Shashi Tharoor, Janata Dal United (JDU) leader Sanjay Jha, Shiv Sena's Shrikant Shinde, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) leader Supriya Sule.

They are scheduled to visit 32 countries and the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, and are expected to begin their tour on May 23.

The 7 Delagations And Countries They Will Visit

Group 1 will visit Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Algeria

Baijayant Panda, BJP MP
Nishikant Dubey, BJP MP
Phangnon Konyak, BJP MP
Rekha Sharma, BJP MP
Asaduddin Owaisi, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MP
Satnam Singh Sandhu, nominated MP
Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Union Minister and ex-Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister
Ambassador Harsh Shringla

Group 2 will travel to the UK, France, Germany, EU, Italy, Denmark

Ravi Shankar Prasad, BJP MP
Daggubati Purandeswari, BJP MP
Priyanka Chaturvedi, Shiv Sena (UBT)
Ghulam Ali Khatana, Nominated MP
Amar Singh, Congress MP
Samik Bhattacharya, BJP MP
MJ Akbar, former Union Minister
Ambassador Pankaj Saran

Group 3 will visit Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, Singapore

Sanjay Kumar Jha, JDU MP
Aparajita Sarangi, BJP MP
Yusuf Pathan, Trinamool Congress MP
Brij Lal, BJP MP
John Brittas, CPI (M) MP
Pradan Baruah, BJP MP
Hemang Joshi, BJP MP
Salman Khurshid, Congress
Ambassador Mohan Kumar

Group 4 will visit UAE, Liberia, Congo, Sierra Leone

Shrikant Eknath Shinde, Shiv Sena MP
Bansuri Swaraj, BJP MP
Mohammed Basheer, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) MP
Atul Garg, BJP MP
Sasmit Patra, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP
Manan Kumar Mishra, BJP MP
SS Ahluwalia, former BJP MP
Ambassador Sujan Chinoy

Group 5 will tour the US, Panama, Guyana, Brazil, Colombia

Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP
Shambhavi, LJP (Ram Vilas) MP
Sarfaraz Ahmad, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) MP
GM Harish Balayogi, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MP
Shashank Mani Tripathi, BJP MP
Bhubaneswar Kalita, BJP MP
Milind Murli Deora, Shiv Sena MP
Tejasvi Surya, BJP MP
Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu

Group 6 will visit Spain, Greece, Slovenia, Latvia, Russia

Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, DMK MP
Rajeev Rai, Samajwadi Party MP
Mian Altaf Ahmad, National Conference MP
Brijesh Chowta, BJP MP
Prem Chand Gupta, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP
Ashok Kumar Mittal, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP
Ambassador Manjeev S Puri
Ambassador Jawed Ashraf

Group 7 will visit Egypt, Qatar, Ethiopia, South Africa

Supriya Sule MP, NCP (SCP) MP
Rajiv Pratap Rudy, BJP MP
Vikramjeet Singh Sahney, AAP MP
Manish Tewari, Congress MP
Anurag Singh Thakur, BJP MP
Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu, TDP MP
Anand Sharma, Congress
V Muraleedharan, BJP
Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin

India-Pakistan Tensions

India found cross-border links to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, which left 26 people dead, and launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, destroying nine terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

India attacked camps of terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Hizbul Mujahideen, and killed more than 100 terrorists.

In retaliation, the Pakistani Army launched drones and missiles at western parts of India, which were successfully intercepted. India then hit selected military targets deep inside Pakistani territory.

After four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes, the two countries reached a ceasefire agreement on May 10 and halted military actions with immediate effect.