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While Congress MP Shashi Tharoor will lead India’s effort, aimed at convincing with nuance rather than confrontation, PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto could well end up creating noise
Any room full of policymakers is expected to be all ears to the likes of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor (L) rather than PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. (Image: PTI/File)
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor is hitting the international circuit to make India’s case on Operation Sindoor before the most crucial country – the United States. In a copycat move, Pakistan has announced a delegation led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. But, that is where the comparisons end.
Shashi Tharoor comes with a formidable reputation and CV – former UN under-secretary-general, former minister of state for external affairs, bestselling author, member of parliament, chairperson of the parliamentary committee on external affairs, and arguably one of the smoothest talkers in global diplomacy.
His persuasive delivery of views leaves even his adversaries confused, and some convinced. There is never any shouting or exchange of slang when it comes to him; it is mostly eloquence and a smile.
And then there is Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. From his much-quoted “either water will flow in the Indus or their blood” line at a political rally before Operation Sindoor or describing India’s attack as a “thief coming in the dark” at the Pakistan assembly, being measured is not his suit.
Instead, he is mostly reactive. For a leader whose mother, Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated by terrorists in Pakistan on the instructions of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), it is ironic that he will lay Pakistan’s case before the global community.
Bilawal is born into political royalty but has little to show on his CV besides being the foreign minister for a little over a year. So far, he has been sent abroad either to ‘internationalise’ issues like Kashmir or pitch for aid. It is like military-backed lobbying, but in a suit.
He says he is going to the global community to present “Pakistan’s case for peace on the international stage” but much of the world knows the country’s links with terrorism, and the fact that it was them that pleaded for a ceasefire after Operation Sindoor.
While Bilawal makes a pitch for peace, it was he who first made the infamous war cry like a hawk: ‘Either water will flow or their blood’.
India’s multi-party delegations, meanwhile, carry a strong message of unity, ‘zero tolerance’ policy on terrorism, and participation from different political streams like the BJP, Congress, DMK, Shiv Sena among others.
Seasoned bureaucrats like Syed Akbaruddin, Taranjit Singh Sandhu and Harsh Shringla are part of the delegations as well. But all that Pakistan has been able to come up with is Bilawal and Hina Rabbani Khar, whose earlier utterances on global media have already been ridiculed.
Back to Tharoor, whose international gravitas and grasp over diplomacy and history has even impressed the Prime Minister. While he will lead India’s effort, which is aimed at convincing with nuance rather than confrontation, Bilawal could well end up doing the opposite by just creating noise.
Any room full of policymakers is expected to be all ears to the likes of Tharoor rather than Bilawal, who only brings forth the oft-repeated “Kashmir dispute”. This time, global attention is on cross-border and state-sponsored terrorism.
An unstable Pakistan surviving on bailouts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and a victim of the chaos it created, is struggling for a narrative. Even more so, now when the Pakistan Army is clasping at the steering wheel harder than ever, India looks assertive and united.
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