Panama stands with India, hopes to defeat terrorism: Panama National Assembly president

Panama City, May 28 (IANS) Panama stands with India and hopes to defeat terrorism, National Assembly President Dana Castaneda has said after meeting the delegation of members of Parliament headed by Shashi Tharoor.

Speaking to reporters after their meeting in the capital of Panama on Wednesday (India time), Castaneda said, “The message which they have conveyed has been very clearly understood by us”.

“Panama wants to stand with India in this campaign for peace, and we hope that we are able to defeat terrorism," she said.

"We have spoken about these issues in detail, and this will help us understand each other better in India's fight against terrorism,” she added.

The delegation was in this Central American nation on the third leg of its mission to spread India’s message of zero tolerance for terrorism in the aftermath of the religiously motivated massacre of 26 people at Pahalgam by Pakistan-linked terrorists.

India launched Operation Sindoor to strike at nine centres of terrorism in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). Islamabad launched attacks on targets in India, including temples, gurdwaras, and a convent, escalating the conflict.

Senior Senators Edwin Vergara and Julio de la Guardia and other lawmakers were in the meeting at the National Assembly.

De la Guardia is a former ambassador to India.

Tharoor told the Panamanian lawmakers, “We had no interest in starting a war, but we felt that the terrorist actions could not go unpunished.”

“So, we conducted very carefully calibrated, precise strikes on nine locations of terrorist organisations that are already listed by the United Nations Sanctions Committee as terrorist groups," he said.

“It was an action of retribution, not the first salvo in a long war. We just wanted to send a clear message to the terrorists,” he said.

After the “terrible crime”, India waited for two weeks to see if Pakistan would act against the terrorists, and launched Operation Sindoor only when Islamabad refused to do anything against the terrorists.

Tharoor said on X that they also met Kathy Bhiku, whom he described as a “colleague” of Castaneda.

Tharoor said that he presented Caastaneda “with a Kashmiri shawl from the place where terror had struck”, and she “reciprocated with a warrior symbol, urging India to fight on with determination”.

The delegation, which started its mission in New York, visited Guyana, where it met President Mohd Irfaan Ali, Prime Minister Mark Anthony Phillips, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, and other leaders and members of the media and diaspora.

From here, it will go to Colombia and Brazil, before returning to the US on June 3 for meetings in Washington.

Reflecting the national consensus against terrorism, the team is headed by Tharoor from the opposition Congress Party and includes Shambhavi of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Sarfaraz Ahmad of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, and Milind Murli Deora of the Shiv Sena as welll as Shashank Mani Tripathi, Bhubaneswar Kalita, and Tejasvi Surya of the BJP, and GM Harish Balayogi of the Telugu Desam Party, a National Democratic Alliance partner.

After landing in Panama, Kalita said on X, the team is “reaffirming India’s united stand against terrorism and commitment to global peace. Democratic solidarity and international cooperation (are) at the forefront.

Tharoor told the members of Panama’s National Assembly that the MPs came from different political backgrounds and different parts of India, “but we are united in the purpose of our mission”.

The Indian parliamentarians visited the Indian Cultural Centre in Panama City and, Tharoor said, they “offered devotions at the beautiful temple there”.

“It was moving to see our Muslim colleague Sarfraz Ahmed join his Hindu and Sikh colleagues at the temple,” he added.

--IANS

arul/dpb