When the Government of India invited me to join an all-party parliamentary delegation to convey India’s message to our international counterparts after Pakistan’s heinous terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, I accepted.
As a citizen, sitting member of Parliament, and former Union Minister, I am driven by the belief that our nation must stand united in combating terrorism that has emanated from Pakistan for over four decades now.
There is no doubt in my mind, nor in the minds of my colleagues who travelled with me, that the Pakistani state was behind the terror attack in Pahalgam. This belief was only reinforced by the speech made by Pakistan’s Army Chief, Asim Munir, on April 16, 2025, addressing overseas Pakistani nationals in Islamabad.
In his speech, Gen. Asim Munir stated, “Our religion is different, our customs are different, our traditions are different, our thoughts are different, our ambitions are different. That’s where the foundation of the two-nation theory was laid. We are two nations, not one. To this day, in the history of humanity, only two states have been founded on the basis of the Kalima. The first was Riyasat-e-Tayyiba [i.e., Medina], named by the Prophet, peace be upon him. The second, created 1,300 years later by Allah, is Pakistan, based on the foundation of the Kalima.” He concluded by emphasising, “Our stance, the government’s stance on Kashmir is absolutely clear; it was our jugular vein, it is our jugular vein. We will not forget it. And we will not abandon our Kashmiri brethren in their heroic struggle against the Indian occupation. We have fought three wars for Kashmir.”
Eight days later, 25 people, who were not part of that “nation” and “religion,” were brutally singled out and killed in front of their loved ones by Pakistani terrorists.
For me, this was about standing up for my country and speaking out. This mission was both political and personal, as I have seen many in Punjab and in the constituencies, I have had the honour to represent—myself included—lose loved ones to terrorism sponsored by Pakistan.
The objective of the all-party Indian parliamentary delegation was four-fold: First, to clearly articulate to the world how Pakistan has used terror as an instrument of state policy against India for over 45 years and counting. Second, to emphasise that punitive measures against terror infrastructure in Pakistan will naturally follow any terror attack on India with links traceable across India’s western border. The sentiment and demand for a zero-tolerance policy towards terrorism is growing worldwide, and we wanted to contribute our voice and political will to that growing global consensus. Third, to assert and assure our counterparts that there is sufficient space below the nuclear threshold to unleash a conventional military response against Pakistan’s terror attacks. Finally, we also wanted to clarify that the distinction between Pakistan, its deep state, and the terror infrastructure it supports is artificial and irrelevant when initiating punitive actions in future.
