Within a week after India agreed to a ceasefire with Pakistan, the Centre finalised the list of delegations to be sent to major capitals for a global outreach. Mimicking India's move, Pakistan also decided to sent delegations led by its former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.
Why Pakistan's delegation is no match for India's?
Fearing that India's global outreach could isolate it on international platforms, Pakistan has sent two delegations. Led by Bilawal, the first multi-party delegation will travel to New York, Washington DC, London and Brussels. However, this is no match to India's seven all-party delegations to be sent to 32 capitals as well as the European Union headquarters in Brussels.
While Shashi Tharoor is set to reach Washington DC on June 3 after visiting New York, Guyana, Panama, Columbia and Brazil, Bilawal's team is also set to reach the US capital this week. "There's going to be perhaps an increase in interest because there are two duelling delegations in the same city," ANI quoted Tharoor as saying. "It's not accident that the Pakistanis have also sent a delegation abroad, but they're not goint to as many countries as the Indian delegations are."
Others include Pakistan's federal minister Musadik Malik, former foreign ministers Hina Rabbani Khar and Khurram Dastgir, former ministers Syed Faisal Ali Subzwari and Sherry Rehman. Senator Bushra Anjum Butt and two former foreign secretaries Jalil Abbas Jilani and Tehmina Janjua.
The second Pakistani delegation is led by Syed Tariq Fatemi, special assistant to the prime minister, who went to Moscow.
Indian delegations were led by MPs Shashi Tharoor, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Sanjay Kumar Jha, Baijayant Panda, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, Supriya Sule and Shrikant Eknath Shinde. The teams included a total of 51 political leaders and eight former ambassadors.
Ravi Shankar Prasad's team travelled to the UK, France, Germany, EU, Italy and Denmark while Sanjay Kumar Jha's group visited Indonesia, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Japan and Singapore. Baijayant Panda's delegation went to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Algeria while Kanimozhi's team flew to Spain, Greece, Slovenia, Latvia and Russia. Supriya Sule's team visited Egypt, Qatar, Ethiopia and South Africa while Shrikant Eknath Shinde travelled to the UAE, Liberia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone.
