On 5 June 2025, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari-led a Pakistani delegation to the USA to outreach US policymakers on the aftermath of Operation Sindoor. The delegation was met by the US House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Congressman Brad Sherman, a senior member of the committee urged the Pakistani government to act against terror groups. Pakistani leaders were also urged to take steps to release Dr. Shakil Afridi, a person who played a key role in the elimination of top terrorist Osama bin Laden.
An Indian delegation led by Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor is also on a multinational tour to outreach global leaders against Pakistani state-sponsored terrorism.
Act Against Jaish e Mohammed
US Congressman Brad Sherman, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee asked Pakistani leaders to act against Jaish e Mohammed, a radical terror group which played a key role in Kashmir insurgency. Jaish was also responsible for killing Daniel Pearl, a US journalist and one of the residents of the constituency from which Congressman Sherman hails.
“I emphasized to the Pakistani delegation the importance of combatting terrorism, and in particular, the group Jaish-e-Mohammed, who murdered my constituent Daniel Pearl in 2002. Pakistan should do all it can to eliminate this vile group and combat terrorism in the region,”
~Brad Sherman, Democrat Congressman, House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee
Free Shakil Afridi
Sherman also highlighted the need to act against Dr. Shakil Afridi who has been in jail in Pakistan. Shakil had played a key role in the elimination of Osama bin Laden, the key conspirator and organizer of the 9/11 Terror Attacks in the USA.
Impact of Indian Parliamentary Panel’s Outreach
Pakistan’s outreach panel led by Bhutto might have lost the narrative among US political circles due to an Indian delegation led by Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor, who himself has been a career UN diplomat.
Tharoor has led delegations to multiple countries in the recent few weeks after the Operation Sindoor to communicate the need to eliminate Pak-based terror networks.
Background
Indian and Pakistan has been sending outreach delegations to multiple countries and supranational entities (UN, EU) in hopes to gather foreign support for their actions in the recent couple of months after the Pahalgam massacre and Operation Sindoor.
