1st trip after Operation Sindoor: Jaishankar to raise Pak terror in three nations

“External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will pay an official visit to the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany from May 19 to 24,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Sunday.

The ministry said Jaishankar will meet the leadership of the three countries and hold discussions with his counterparts on the entire gamut of bilateral relations and regional and global matters of mutual interest.

While the visit to Germany was scheduled — long before the Pahalgam terror attack took place — his visits to the Netherlands and Denmark have been added in recent days.

This will be Jaishankar’s first visit to Germany after the new government under Chancellor Friedrich Merz assumed office. He will meet Foreign minister Johan Wadephul. Jaishankar held talks with France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on May 8, after Operation Sindoor was launched.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was scheduled to travel to the Netherlands on May 14-15, along with Norway and Croatia — but the three-country overseas trip was cancelled due to the Operation Sindoor and the tension between India and Pakistan.

So, in the Netherlands, he will meet his counterpart, Caspar Veldkamp, to once again try and schedule the visit of PM Modi at an appropriate time soon.

It is expected that Jaishankar will also apprise his counterparts in the three nations about India’s decision to launch Operation Sindoor following the Pahalgam terror attack.

Under Operation Sindoor, India on early May 7 destroyed nine terror infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Following the Indian action, Pakistan attempted to attack Indian military bases on May 8, 9 and 10.

The two sides reached an understanding on cessation of hostilities on May 10 after four days of confrontations.

Jaishankar will also travel to Denmark, as it is one of the non-permanent members of the UN Security Council. Jaishankar has been in touch with Denmark’s Foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who was the country’s Prime Minister as well. Rasmussen is visiting China from May 17 to 20.

As part of its efforts to rally global support for India’s war against terror emanating from Pakistan and moving to isolate Islamabad internationally, the government announced Saturday that seven multi-party delegations would visit different countries to convey India’s message post the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor.

Three of the seven delegations will be headed by Opposition leaders.

The delegations will be headed by Congress’s Shashi Tharoor, BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad and Baijayant Panda, JD(U)’s Sanjay Kumar Jha, DMK’s Kanimozhi, NCP (SP)’s Supriya Sule and Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Eknath Shinde.

The leaders — four from the ruling NDA and three from the Opposition INDIA bloc — are seasoned lawmakers with long stints in public life.

In all, 51 political leaders are part of the delegations which will brief 32 countries and the EU. They will visit all the Permanent Five (P5) countries barring China.