Big Picture: India is Pushing for a New Global Compact on Terrorism

Edited by IndianRepublic.in - Location: New Delhi, Delhi, India

In the weeks following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s foreign policy is seemingly undergoing a marked reorientation. With 26 civilians killed in an incident linked directly to Pakistan-based groups by top levels, the Indian government has responded with a coordinated diplomatic push spanning 33 countries. This initiative has fused parliamentary diplomacy, strategic signaling, and cultural outreach into a multi-layered campaign which is precisely aimed at shaping global narratives on terrorism.

Image Source: Global Terrorism Map/Wikipedia
From New York to Kinshasa, senior parliamentarians—across party lines—are leading delegations engaging with lawmakers, think tanks, UN officials, and diaspora organizations. In the United States, Dr. Shashi Tharoor, a former UN diplomat, will lead talks centered on consensus-building against terror finance and multilateral lawmaking. Simultaneously, in South Korea, MP Abhishek Banerjee will emphasise India’s intent to break diplomatic inertia, which, if stated bluntly, is simply that the global community must move past neutrality when confronting state-sponsored extremism.

The message, largely consistent across capitals, is underscored by a two-pronged principle: talks and terror cannot co-exist, and ambiguity in global responses to terrorism emboldens its sponsors. In Berlin, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s engagements with the new German leadership reaffirmed this line. Germany offered vocal support for India’s counterterror stance and its broader Indo-Pacific strategy. In Moscow, MPs laid floral tributes at Mahatma Gandhi’s statue while discussing legal counterterror frameworks—a dual gesture of peace and policy that reflected India’s evolving diplomatic tone: non-aggressive but unyielding.

The campaign has also opened up fronts beyond traditional diplomacy. At the forthcoming BRICS Culture Ministers’ Meeting in Brasília, India plans to emphasize cultural diplomacy as a tool for fostering trust among Global South partners. Minister Gajendra Shekhawat’s participation is positioned to complement the larger Sindoor narrative by drawing attention to civilizational values and heritage stewardship as stabilizing forces in turbulent regions.

India has also resorted to leveraging geopolitical instruments. Notably, in a direct response to the Pahalgam attack, New Delhi suspended the Indus Waters Treaty—a World Bank-brokered agreement dating back to 1960. Though described by officials as “temporary,” the suspension has already impacted downstream water flows in Pakistan, provoking alarm in Islamabad. Pakistani lawmakers have since described the situation as a “water bomb,” highlighting the material consequences of India’s hybrid diplomacy—legal, ecological, and geopolitical.

Meanwhile, former ministers and diplomats have joined parliamentarians in the outreach. Figures such as Supriya Sule, Ravi Shankar Prasad, and Baijayant Jay Panda have led multi-party delegations to over a dozen countries. The composition of these delegations has been deliberately diverse—cross-party, cross-regional, and inclusive of both veterans and emerging voices—projecting national unity and democratic legitimacy.

In Africa, outreach has extended to Congo and Ethiopia; in the Gulf, to Qatar and UAE; and in Latin America, to Colombia and Guyana. Each stop is accompanied by bilateral consultations, cultural programming, and public messaging, amplifying India’s voice on terrorism through a civil as well as strategic lens. The integration of Indian diaspora communities into these engagements has further enhanced their credibility and scope.

A proposed joint anti-terror legal framework with Russia has already been floated at the highest level. In Tokyo and Berlin, conversations around establishing a permanent anti-terror research forum have found traction. In policy circles, observers are contemplating whether this could evolve into an institutional model akin to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), but focused on terror networks rather than financial flows.

It remains to be seen how much of this effort converts into enforceable agreements or consensus resolutions. Critics argue that multilateral inertia, especially at the UN Security Council, remains a structural impediment. Others raise questions about proportionality and long-term regional impact, particularly with respect to water treaties and ecological diplomacy. But what is evident is a shift in India’s diplomatic toolkit: from reacting to terror incidents, it is now proactively shaping international dialogue around them.

The narrative coming out is one of strategic continuity with rhetorical clarity. While India restates its commitment to peace and multilateralism again and again, it also draws firm lines against compromise where terrorism is concerned. Whether this leads to a new global compact on terrorism or not, India is surely in expanding the diplomatic vocabulary—and geographic terrain—of counterterror discussions.

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🛰️ India's Global Diplomatic Outreach

Georgetown, Guyana
Kuwait City, Kuwait
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New York, United States
Doha, Qatar
Seoul, South Korea
Kinshasa, DR Congo
Moscow, Russia
Berlin, Germany
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The Hague, Netherlands
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