Panama Assembly President Dana Castaneda on Tuesday (local time) expressed her country’s solidarity with India in its campaign against terrorism, following a meeting with the all-party Indian parliamentary delegation led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.
Speaking to media after the meeting, Castaneda said:
“We very clearly understand the message that they have conveyed. Panama wants to stand with India in this campaign for peace, and we hope that we can defeat terrorism. We have spoken about these issues in detail, and this will help us understand each other better in India’s fight against terrorism.”
Shashi Tharoor shared that the Indian delegation presented Castaneda with a Kashmiri shawl—symbolizing the site of the tragic Pahalgam terror attack—while the Panama Assembly President reciprocated by gifting a symbolic artifact representing Panama’s warriors.
“When we presented the president with a shawl from Kashmir, where the tragedy (Pahalgam terror attack) happened. She, in turn, gave us a symbol of the warriors of Panama, saying she hopes that we will fight against terror with that strength and that I thought was an excellent message to leave the National Assembly with,” Tharoor said.
During the meeting, Tharoor reiterated India’s firm position against terrorism and explained the context of the Pahalgam terror attack.
“We all come from different political backgrounds and different parts of India, but we are united in national purpose… After the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, we waited to see whether the Pakistan government would take any action against the perpetrators of the terrible crime. When nothing was clearly being done, two weeks later, on the 7th of May, we attacked the known headquarters of terrorist bases inside Pakistan.”
The Indian delegation arrived in Panama City for a three-day official visit after concluding engagements in Guyana. The visit includes interactions with Panamanian leaders, media, strategic thinkers, members of the Indian diaspora, and other key stakeholders.
According to the Indian Embassy in Panama, the objective of the delegation is to convey India’s strong and unified message of zero tolerance for terrorism in all its forms.
The delegation led by Shashi Tharoor comprises Members of Parliament Sarfaraz Ahmed, G M Harish Balayogi, Shashank Mani Tripathi, Tejasvi Surya, Bhubaneswar Kalita, Mallikarjun Devda, Milind Deora, and former Indian Ambassador to the United States, Taranjit Singh Sandhu.