Tharoor Questions Sending MoS to Gaza Peace Summit
New Delhi: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said on Monday that India’s presence at the Ministerial level at the Gaza peace summit in Sharm el-Sheikh was in stark contrast to the heads of state gathered there and wondered whether the decision reflected “strategic restraint” or “missed opportunity”. External Affairs Minister Kirti Vardhan Singh is representing India at a peace summit in Egypt’s Red Sea resort city of Sharm al-Sheikh.
It was learned that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also invited to the summit, where US President Donald Trump and nearly 20 world leaders are expected to attend. However, New Delhi appointed Singh to attend the summit.
Reacting to the development, Tharoor said, “India’s presence at the Ministerial level at the Sharm El Sheikh Gaza peace summit is in stark contrast to the heads of state gathered there. Strategic restriction or missed opportunity?”
“This is not a reflection on Kirti Vardhan Singh, whose competence is not questioned, but given the galaxy of current greats, India’s choice could be seen as signaling a preference for strategic distance, which our statements do not reflect,” former foreign minister Tharoor said.
“And purely because of protocol access, India’s voice on reconstruction and regional stability at the Summit may carry less weight than it might. In a region that is reshaping itself, our relative absence is puzzling,” the Congress MP said. he said.
The summit comes just days after the first phase of President Trump’s Gaza peace plan went into effect. The ceasefire in Gaza came into force on Friday.
Israel started the war in Gaza after Hamas attacked Israeli cities on October 7, 2023, killing approximately 1,200 people. Hamas also took 251 people hostage, more than 50 of whom are still in captivity.
Israeli military operations have killed more than 66,000 Palestinians since then, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Gaza is grappling with a major humanitarian crisis, largely due to food and medicine shortages. The World Health Organization announced last month that malnutrition rates in Gaza had reached “alarming levels”.
