Columbia withdraws Pro Pakistan statement as Tharoor expresses ‘disappointment’

New Delhi (India) May 31: Colombia withdrew a statement expressing condolences to Pakistan after an Indian parliamentary delegation clarified Islamabad's continuous backing for cross-border terrorism, for the deaths caused by India's military strikes in response to the Pahalgam attack.

After a meeting with Vice Foreign Minister Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who was leading an all-party group to the South American nation, revealed that Bogota had withdrawn the controversial statement.

He said, “We met with the foreign ministry - the senior vice minister received us. We had some good news: They have withdrawn their statement that disappointed us earlier and will issue a statement of strong support for our position and understanding of our position. Finally, here we are before this beautiful bust of Mahatma Gandhi on the campus of the main university.”

Colombia's Vice Foreign Minister, Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio said, "We are very confident that with the explanation that we received today and the detailed information that we now have regarding the real situation, the conflict, and what happened in Kashmir, we can also continue the dialogue and be aware of what is happening.” after the decision of withdrawing the statements.

BJP leader and former Indian ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu praised the delegation's complete justifications for Colombia's change.

He said, This morning we had a detailed interaction with the acting Foreign Minister and our leader and the entire team made specific points to them explaining to them the timeline which perhaps to an extent they might have missed out. The end result was that they are withdrawing one of the other statements which had come out and have promised and stated, actually quite clearly, on terrorism and the issue. The importance of Colombia, apart from other reasons, is also that it will be a member of the Security Council soon.”

The Colombian response to India's Operation Sindoor, a series of military attacks against terrorist sites in Pakistan, had previously caused Tharoor to express "disappointment." He said that instead of expressing sympathy for the victims of the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu & Kashmir, Colombia had done so for Pakistani deaths.

He said, “We were a little disappointed in the reaction of the Colombian government, which apparently expressed heartfelt condolences on the loss of lives in Pakistan after the Indian strikes, rather than sympathising with the victims of terrorism.”

After visiting Panama and Guyana, the Tharoor-led team which consists of MPs from different political parties which includes Sarfraz Ahmad (JMM), G M Harish Balayogi (TDP), Shashank Mani Tripathi (BJP), Bhubaneswar Kalita (BJP), Milind Deora (Shiv Sena), and Tejasvi Surya (BJP) landed in Colombia.

Aadrika Tayal