After a four-day conflict from May 7 to 10, both Pakistan and India claimed victory, while U.S. President Donald Trump stated he helped broker a ceasefire. Now New Delhi and Islamabad are preparing to present their positions on the international stage.
On May 17, India announced its global outreach to promote its framing of the conflict. The Indian government released a list of seven all-party delegations that will visit various countries, including members of the United Nations Security Council and the European Union, to communicate its message of zero tolerance against terrorism.
After the Pahalgam attack on April 22, which saw the execution of 26 unarmed civilians, India cast the blame on Pakistan but did not provide concrete evidence to support the claim. In response, India launched an attack inside Pakistan on May 7 under the name Operation Sindoor; Pakistan retaliated on May 10 with Operation Banyan Al Marsoos.
India’s diplomatic delegations, which have included members from various political parties, were presented with dossiers detailing Pakistan’s alleged support for terrorist proxies operating within India. The briefing materials outlined New Delhi’s “zero tolerance” policy on terrorism and provided evidence linking the Pahalgam attack to groups that are reportedly based in Pakistan.
Randhir Jaiswal, official spokesperson of India’s Ministry of External Affairs, described this effort as “a political mission. We want to make a strong outreach to the world, to convey our resolve to fight terrorism.” He added, “We want to exhort the world to hold those responsible for cross-border terrorism accountable. Those [who] have been practicing it for the last 40 years against India – that is Pakistan – their actions need to be called out.”
In response, Pakistan has consistently denied any involvement in terrorism, stating that the evidence provided by India was insufficient.
Besides this delegation, Indian Minister of External Affairs Dr. S. Jaishankar also highlighted his government’s global outreach during his visits to European capitals in Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands. In a joint press conference, Jaishankar said, “India has zero tolerance for terrorism. India will never give in to nuclear blackmail. India will deal with Pakistan purely bilaterally. There should be no confusion in any quarter.”
Jaishankar’s remarks are a probable reference to the ceasefire that Trump claims to have brokered – contrary to the later claims made by Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri. The Indian diplomat told India’s parliamentary panel that the India-Pakistan ceasefire was strictly bilateral, without Washington’s involvement or any nuclear signalling from Pakistan. However, Jaishankar in a recent interview clarified that the “U.S. did call up [New Delhi], but the ceasefire was negotiated directly between India and Pakistan.”
In addition to these diplomatic efforts, India aims to expand its narrative. It plans to push the Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental organization based in Paris that focuses on global financial crime, to place Pakistan back on its “gray list.” Pakistan was previously included on this list in 2018 but was removed in 2022 after implementing significant measures to enhance its efforts to counter money laundering and terrorist financing. Furthermore, New Delhi said that it would also oppose upcoming World Bank funding to Pakistan.
In light of the recent military escalation with India and India’s delegation propagating its narrative against Pakistan, Islamabad also decided to send a high-level delegation to key world capitals to counter Indian propaganda. This delegation, led by former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, will visit London, Washington, Paris, and Brussels to highlight what it describes as India’s disinformation campaign against Pakistan.
In response to India’s terrorism narrative, Pakistan alleges that India is using proxies in its southern province of Balochistan, where security concerns are growing with every passing day. Pakistan also wants to highlight India’s record of extrajudicial and extraterritorial killings – not only in Pakistan, but in Canada
The Pakistani delegation, which includes members from political parties as well as diplomatic fraternity, is set to arrive in New York on June 1 to present Islamabad’s position. India’s own messaging team, led by Congress party MP Shashi Tharoor, has already established its lobbying camp in New York as well.
Pakistan has struggled to maintain its international appeal in the face of both domestic challenges and the aftermath of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. In contrast, India’s economic growth has allowed it to stand out on the global stage. As a result, the term “Indo-Pak,” which was commonly used to refer to both countries, had lost its significance over time, as India successfully de-hyphenated itself from Pakistan internationally. However, following India’s strikes on Pakistan on May 7 and Pakistan’s retaliatory attacks on May 10, India has inadvertently managed to link itself with Pakistan once again.
According to journalist Karan Thapar, Trump’s re-hyphenation of Pakistan with India and the internationalization of the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, which both Pakistan and India claim both cross deep red lines as far as India is concerned.
India has also managed to rehyphenate itself with Pakistan because of India’s own regression over the past decade, according to the Indian historian Ramachandra Guha. “Our democratic and secular fabric has frayed, our economic progress has stalled,” Guha said.
Despite India’s efforts to present itself as a representative of the Global South and a global leader, its actions reveal a contradiction in its own region, where it has difficult relations with its immediate neighbors. Western powers tend to overlook these issues, viewing India primarily as a counterbalance to China, without critically examining its democratic backsliding and regional behavior. The conflict with Pakistan brings the issue of India’s actions in South Asia back into the spotlight.