Pakistan’s lies, Operation Sindoor, and U.S. surveillance revelations highlight complex India-Pakistan and global relations.
New Delhi: From orchestrating a deadly terrorist attack on tourists in Pahalgam to the ongoing Operation Sindoor, Pakistan has continued to lie unabashedly. To expose these lies, the Indian government has decided to send an all-party delegation to various countries. As part of this effort to highlight the objectives of Operation Sindoor and reveal Pakistan’s true face to the world, 59 Indian Members of Parliament (MPs) have been sent to 33 countries. These MPs are divided into seven all-party teams (delegations), accompanied by eight former diplomats. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri briefed the MPs on key issues related to this mission on behalf of the Government of India.
Senior Congress leaders — including former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, Anand Sharma, and former diplomat-turned-politician Shashi Tharoor — are part of these delegations. Despite this, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Jairam Ramesh are demanding answers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding Operation Sindoor and the ceasefire. They allege that the operation’s suspension was due to American intervention.
However, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has repeatedly clarified that Pakistan appealed to the United States and several other nations for help, and later directly requested a ceasefire from the Indian Army commander. That’s when the operation was suspended. As far as global support is concerned, most countries — including the US, Russia, and many European nations — have consistently expressed their support for India in the fight against terrorism.
Rahul Gandhi’s argument — that these countries didn’t explicitly name Pakistan — is laughable. India has been fighting terrorism with and against Pakistan for years. Anti-terrorism pledges are embedded in multiple bilateral and multilateral agreements. During his European diplomatic mission this week, after meetings with Jaishankar, Germany also expressed support for India in its fight against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already declared that Operation Sindoor is only suspended — not called off — and if another terrorist attack occurs, India will respond fiercely.
He stated, “Pakistan can never win a direct war with India. We are not afraid of its nuclear threats. If there’s another terrorist strike, the time, method, and terms of retaliation will be decided by our military — on our terms. There will be no trade with Pakistan, and the only dialogue will be about reclaiming Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.”
Regarding allegations of American involvement in the suspension of Operation Sindoor, Rahul Gandhi should consult senior leaders in his own party — such as Salman Khurshid and Anand Sharma — to understand the extent of U.S. interference during previous Congress regimes. Not only under Indira Gandhi and Narasimha Rao, but particularly during the Manmohan Singh administration (which was effectively backed by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi), all boundaries of foreign intervention were crossed. Rahul Gandhi was a Member of Parliament at the time — perhaps he didn’t understand, or now conveniently chooses to forget.
It wasn’t just us journalists who noticed — the entire world did. A secret document leaked by Edward Snowden, a whistleblower from the National Security Agency (NSA), revealed that during Manmohan Singh’s tenure, the NSA conducted surveillance not only in India, but also at the Indian Embassy in Washington and the Indian mission to the United Nations in New York. Out of the 13.5 billion data points intercepted, only about 1 billion were related to terrorism. The rest were clear violations of Indian national confidentiality.
Snowden’s revelations confirmed that India was one of the top surveillance targets for U.S. intelligence.
While the US defended its actions by claiming the surveillance was part of its global war on terror, Indian intelligence officials from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) clearly stated, “America knows very well that we are not exporters of terror. Of all the data collected, only a fraction was terrorism-related. The rest included sensitive information about the Indian government.”
This shows that the NSA’s surveillance was a sweeping effort to monitor nearly every aspect of India’s internal affairs. The US monitored selected individuals in India and collected vast amounts of data — not just from the embassy in Washington but also concerning India’s domestic politics, nuclear programme, and space missions. Around 1 billion intercepts were recorded, including emails, chats, and phone calls. This data was obtained by breaching servers of providers like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft.
Following the scandal, former RAW chief C.D. Sahay stated, “We must demand tough answers from the US. This issue cannot be swept under the rug. India needs to know what kind of data was collected, how it is being used, who it has been shared with, and how long the US intends to retain it.”
Notably, CIA contractor Edward Snowden had visited India before 2011.
What is most startling is how the Congress government downplayed the entire affair.
When the report created a global uproar, then Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid, speaking on behalf of the Manmohan Singh government, casually remarked, “Such surveillance between countries happens.”
According to a Washington Post report based on Snowden’s leaks, the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, in 2010, approved broad surveillance certification for foreign countries. This list included 193 nations, allowing American companies to intercept communications. Institutions like the World Bank and the European Union were also included. Interestingly, the BJP was one of six political parties recommended for surveillance — along with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and Pakistan’s People’s Party.
After the BJP came to power, the Modi government summoned a senior U.S. diplomat in July 2014 over reports that the NSA had been authorised to spy on the ruling BJP. In the years since, India has developed advanced technologies and built a team of experts to protect its information systems.
Nevertheless, one fact stands out: on April 5, 2010, the video ‘Collateral Damage’ — leaked by US soldier Chelsea Manning and published by Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks — marked a historic turning point in the era of whistleblowing. It became one of the largest and most consistent exposures of government and corporate secrets. Rahul Gandhi must not forget his own record.