Colombia is scheduled to issue a statement in strong support of India's position on terror, in a pivot from the South American country's condolences for the deaths in Pakistan after India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7.
Leading an all-party delegation visit to Colombia, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said, "They have withdrawn their statement that disappointed us earlier and will issue a statement of strong support for our position." This comes a day after he raised concern over Colombia's stance and said New Delhi was disappointed by it.
Former Indian Ambassador to the United States and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Taranjit Singh Sandhu said that the delegation's detailed explanation helped reverse the Colombian stance. "This morning we had a detailed interaction with the acting Foreign Minister and our leader and the entire team made specific points to them explaining to them the timeline which perhaps to an extent they might have missed out. The importance of Colombia, apart from other reasons, is also that it will be a member of the Security Council soon," Mr Sandhu told ANI.
Colombia's Vice Foreign Minister Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio said, "We are very confident that with the explanation that we received today and the detailed information that we now have regarding the real situation, the conflict, and what happened in Kashmir, we can also continue the dialogue."
Responding to Colombia's statement on Friday, Mr Tharoor had emphasised that there can no equivalence between those who dispatch terrorists and those who defend themselves.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP reiterated that New Delhi has concrete proof that Pakistan-sponsored terror was behind the April 22 Pahalgam attack in which 26 civilians were massacred. "We are only exercising our right of self-defence. Just as Colombia has endured many terror attacks, so have we in India. We have endured a very large number of attacks for almost four decades, " he said.
The delegation led by Mr Tharoor arrived in Colombia on Thursday after visiting Panama and Guyana. During the course of their stay in Bogota, the delegation will be interacting with the Members of Congress, Ministers and other key interlocutors in think tanks and media. The delegation includes Sarfraz Ahmad (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha), G M Harish Balayogi (Telugu Desam Party), Shashank Mani Tripathi (BJP), Bhubaneswar Kalita (BJP), Milind Deora (Shiv Sena), Tejasvi Surya (BJP), and former ambassador of India to US Taranjit Singh Sandhu.
The group is one of the seven multi-party delegations India has tasked to visit 33 global capitals to reach out to the international community after the Pahalgam terror attack.
Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated after the Pahalgam attack, which claimed 26 lives. India carried out precision strikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in the early hours of May 7, following which Pakistan attempted to attack Indian military bases on May 8, 9, and 10. The Indian side responded strongly to the Pakistani actions.
The on-ground hostilities ended with an understanding of stopping the military actions following talks between the directors general of military operations of both sides on May 10.
