Oxford Union ‘No’-debate turns into Indo–Pak face-off: Pakistan claims false win, India’s Sai Deepak calls it ‘Operation Manhoos ki phati Baniyan’

A planned debate on India’s policy towards Pakistan at the Oxford Union collapsed on Thursday night after the Pakistani delegation failed to arrive on time, leading to a standoff between the two sides. According to a TOI report, the debate on the motion “This House Believes India’s Policy Towards Pakistan Is A Populist Strategy Sold As Security Policy” was canceled minutes before it was due to start.

Oxford Union Debate

The debate was organized by Oxford Union president Moosa Harraj, who is of Pakistani origin and the son of Pakistan’s federal defense production minister Muhammad Raza Hayat Harraj. The union did not publicly announce the speakers.
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Senior advocate J Sai Deepak flew in from Delhi and moderated their proceedings remotely from London to join the debate. He was joined at the last minute by UK-based J&K activist Manu Khajuria and dharmic expert Pt Satish K Sharma. Former Chief of Army Staff General MM Naravane and Dr. Subramanian Swamy had withdrawn earlier. Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi and marketing consultant Suhel Seth were reached too late for participation. Chaturvedi said the Association first contacted him in July and later on November 25, but he could not confirm that date.

Debate Day Confusion

Sai said that as the speakers were preparing to leave on November 27, he received a call from Oxford Union at 3.13pm local time saying that the Pakistani team had not landed in London. At 4.55 pm, Sai said he received a call from Harraj, in which Harraj admitted that he had known since 10 am that Pakistan’s speakers (former chairman of the Joint Chiefs Committee Zubair Mahmood Hayat and former Pakistani foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar) would not attend the meeting. Instead, the Hindi speakers were offered a debate against the students, which they refused.

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Sai Deepak calls it Operation Manhoos ki phati hui Baniyan

Sai said he learned on Friday that the Pakistani delegation had, in fact, come to Oxford. He criticized the event as a “fraud” and accused the Oxford Union of acting as “the mouthpiece of the Pakistan high commission”.

“Instead of holding a civil debate, Oxford Union allowed Pakistan to claim a fake victory. If we had known that the Pakistani team had landed, we would have argued with them,” Sai said.

He added: “If they are still in Oxford, they should find the courage to argue with us instead of doing Operation Manhoos ki phati hui Baniyan, where their defense minister cannot even provide evidence of its so-called successes.”