‘Pakistan is the emperor with no clothes,’ says BJP MP Baijayant Panda after all-party delegation’s Middle East visit, claims countries now ‘stand with us’

NEW DELHI: BJP Lok Sabha MP Baijayant Jay Panda, who led an all-party parliamentary delegation to four Islamic nations, launched a sharp critique of Pakistan’s global image, calling it "an emperor that has no clothes" in an interview with India Today, as cited by news agency ANI.

His comments came after the delegation’s visit to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Algeria, where he said India received a “phenomenal reception” and found a shared stance with these countries against terrorism."Pakistan is like the emperor that has no clothes. It's pretty shameless, but everybody knows what it is," Panda said. He claimed that while the four nations are Islamic, they have diverged sharply from Pakistan by cracking down on jihadist and Salafist elements.

"All these four countries have taken very strong actions against jihadism... Pakistan has gone in the opposite direction," he said, adding that Islamabad continues to encourage fundamentalism and misuse aid meant for development.Panda further said these countries are frustrated with Pakistan’s use of financial assistance. "They have seen that the aid has been misused... instead of developing schools, roads, and hospitals, Pakistan has used it to finance terrorism," he said.

According to him, these countries now “stand with us” and view India as an opportunity, unlike Pakistan which they consider a “problem child.”The BJP MP also underlined that the delegation highlighted Pakistan’s return to supporting terror groups after being removed from the FATF grey list. “This message found a great deal of resonance,” he said, noting that India’s anti-terror stand was welcomed.On the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed civilians, Panda said all four countries issued strong statements condemning terrorism.

"They are on the same page when we go with this message,” he said. He also expressed hope that these countries would take steps behind the scenes that would “not be very encouraging for Pakistan” and possibly push it towards self-correction.Emphasising India's assertive new approach, he said, “We were there to explain the new normal. We will retaliate and specifically target terrorist bases.” However, he clarified that India did not want to escalate tensions or provoke nuclear threats. “If they escalate, we will hit them back... but never go near the nuclear threshold,” he added.The delegation included MPs Nishikant Dubey, Phangnon Konyak, Rekha Sharma, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Harsh Shringla and Satnam Singh Sandhu.