Cairo [Egypt], Jun 3 (ANI): Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) MP and Group 7 of all-party delegation leader Supriya Sule recalled the deep sense of shock that followed the Pahalgam terror incident, describing how the tragedy unfolded while senior political leaders were in Delhi deliberating key electoral reforms.

While addressing the Indian Diaspora in Cairo, MP Sule said that the tragic incident in Pahalgam had left the entire nation hurt.

'Five weeks ago, India's soul was hurt. As you all are aware, what happened in Pahalgam came as a shock to all of us -- it was completely unexpected,' Sule said.

At the time, Sule noted, she and several parliamentarians, including BJP leader Anurag Thakur and Congress MP Manish Tewari, were engaged in a high-level meeting in Delhi, discussing the possibility of implementing 'One Nation, One Election', a proposal to synchronise national and state elections across the country.

'We were all sitting in a meeting in Delhi, where the government is considering one nation, one election. So the entire election system should only happen on one day in the entire country and we were all discussing, debating, deliberating that how better can we make India and make it a stronger democracy and make the election process even better,' she said.

Sule pointed out that the participants were 'completely oblivious' to the tragedy.

She said, 'We were completely oblivious while we were all together in Delhi of what was happening in Pahalgam.'

Congress MP Manish Tewari has called for firm international action against nations that employ terrorism as a tool of statecraft, asserting that the time has come to officially blacklist such countries.

He singled out Pakistan as the 'prima donna' among these states, accusing it of perpetuating low-intensity conflict against India through proxy actors.

'This is the message which all of us have tried to convey to our interlocutors that the time has come to procribe once for all those states which use terror as an instrument of state policy, and Pakistan unfortunately ranks as the prima donna of those states which relentlessly and without an iota of shame continues to spawn a low-intensity conflict against India, using these semi-state actors,' said Tewari.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Anurag Thakur, also part of the delegation, highlighted the widespread global appeal of India's soft power, citing personal experiences with international delegations during his tenure as a Union Minister.

'Not only in Egypt, you will see the strength of India's soft power in many countries worldwide. Despite many people not even understanding your language, your fan following in the country is huge,' Thakur said.

He recalled that during ministerial meetings with delegations from Central Asia, Russia, and other regions, the influence of Indian culture was clearly visible. 'When I was a Minister, people and delegations from Central Asia, Russia, and some other countries used to come. The students from Central Asia said - we also want to do some cultural programs for you,' he recounted.

Thakur added that he initially expected them to perform something from their native culture. 'I thought they would sing a song from their country, but imagine a person who is 20-22 years old, wondering which song they would like to sing - they sang a song from the days of Mithun Chakraborty,' he said, referring to the popular Bollywood star from the 1980s.

The all-party delegation led by Supriya Sule also includes Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Vikramjeet Singh Sahney, Manish Tewari, Anurag Singh Thakur, Lavu Sri Krishna devarayalu, Anand Sharma, former Minister of Commerce & Industry, V Muraleedharan, Former Minister of State for External Affairs, and Syed Akbaruddin, Former Permanent Representative of India to the UN.

The delegation aims to brief international partners on India's response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack and its broader fight against cross-border terrorism while engaging with leaders in key countries.

The multi-party delegation, consisting of seven groups led by one MP each, has been initiated to counter global misinformation and highlight India's zero-tolerance policy on terrorism. (ANI)