'Diplomatic setback': Congress on US panel report citing Pak's 'success'

The Congress on Thursday described as "yet another severe setback" to India's diplomacy a US commission reportedly mentioning in its report of "Pakistan's military success over India" in a four-day clash, and asked whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Ministry of External Affairs will register their objections to it.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said US President Donald Trump has claimed 60 times so far that he had "halted Operation Sindoor" but the prime minister has kept "completely quiet".

The party's communications in-charge said the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission has just submitted its annual report to the US Congress. The commission set up jointly by the US Senate and House of Representatives has twelve independent members, Ramesh pointed out.

"The 2025 Annual Report is almost 800 pages long. The sections on pages 108 and 109 are simply astonishing and beyond understanding. It describes the Pahalgam terror attack of April 2025 orchestrated by Pakistan as an 'insurgent attack'," Ramesh said.

"It speaks of 'Pakistan's military success over India' in the four-day clash," he said on X.

"President Trump has claimed 60 times (so far) that he had halted Operation Sindoor. The PM has kept completely quiet. Now comes this report of the US-China Economic and Security Commission of the US Congress that is simply unacceptable to India," Ramesh said.

Will the PM and the MEA register their objections and protest, he asked.

"Our diplomacy has suffered yet another severe setback," Ramesh claimed and shared the screenshot of the relevant pages of the report on X.

"China's role in the May 7-10, 2025, clash between Pakistan's and India's militaries drew global attention as Pakistan's military relied upon Chinese weaponry and reportedly leveraged Chinese intelligence. During the clash, triggered by India's response to a deadly insurgent attack that killed 26 civilians both countries attacked targets farther into one another's territories than at any time in 50 years," the report said, according to a screenshot shared by Ramesh.

"Pakistan's military success over India in its four-day clash showcased Chinese weaponry. While characterization of this conflict as a 'proxy war' may overstate China's role as an instigator, Beijing opportunistically leveraged the conflict to test and advertise the sophistication of its weapons, useful in the contexts of its ongoing border tensions with India and its expanding defense industry goals," it said.