New Delhi [India], June 6 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha MP Baijayant Panda, who led an all-party parliamentary delegation in four countries, on Thursday didn't mince words in criticising Pakistan, labelling it as 'an emperor that has no clothes'.

'Pakistan is like the emperor that has no clothes. It's pretty shameless, but everybody knows what it is,' Panda said in an interview with India Today's Gaurav Sawant.

Talking about the countries visited by the parliamentary delegation and their bilateral relationship with Pakistan, Panda informed that even though these are Islamic nations, their paths are not the same as that of Pakistan since all four countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Algeria, have taken 'strong' action against 'jihadism'.

Contrary to actions taken by these countries, the BJP MP said, Pakistan has gone in the opposite direction, encouraging jihadis and fundamentalist elements.

'Keep in mind that over the last couple of decades, you know, these are all Islamic countries, but their path and Pakistan's path have diverged quite a bit. All these four countries have taken very strong actions against jihadism and Salafist elements, and they have rubbed them out from operating on their soil,' Panda said.

'Pakistan has gone in the opposite direction. It continues to encourage jihadis and fundamentalist elements. This is why there is a divergence in their relationship with Pakistan,' he added.

Highlighting the financial assistance provided to Pakistan by these countries, Panda argued that they have witnessed the aid being misused. He said that Pakistan has used the aid to finance terrorism instead of working for development.

'Some of these countries have helped Pakistan financially in the past years, and they have seen that the aid has been misused. Now, these countries have developed their schools, roads, colleges and hospitals. But Pakistan has taken their money and, instead of using it for the same purpose, has used it to finance terrorism,' he said, adding, 'These are things that they are very unhappy about, and they did make it very clear to us that they stand with us.'

Furthermore, Panda said that the four Islamic nations perceive India and Pakistan in entirely different ways, categorising the neighbouring country as a 'problem child' who abstains from becoming normal and has 'misused the support'.

'They see Pakistan and India in a completely different light. They see Pakistan as a problem child. They do have sympathy for its poverty. They have sympathy for the crores of Pakistani children who are not in any school. They have sympathy, and they want to help Pakistan become normal. However, they are aware that Pakistan is not becoming normal and has misused their help and support to become even worse than before,' he added.

Talking about their perception of India, the BJP MP said that these nations see India as an opportunity since the message propagated by the all-party delegation regarding Pakistan supporting terrorism after being removed from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) black and grey list found 'a great deal of resonance.'

'They see India as an opportunity. When we took up these issues, we specifically mentioned that some nations helped put them (Pakistan) on the FATF blacklist, and they were somewhat subdued on supporting terror for a few years. However, now that they are off the grey list, they are back at it again. This message found a great deal of resonance,' Panda said in his interview to India Today.

Given India's past ties with them, he asserted that the all-party delegation had 'excellent' engagements with these countries.

'I think it's important to note that we had a phenomenal reception and excellent engagements in all four countries. The fact is that India doesn't really need to justify itself. All these countries have had a relationship with India for thousands of years. They understand what we are all about,' Panda said.

Talking about the reaction of these sovereign nations to the ghastly Pahalgam terror attack, the BJP leader said that all have issued strong statements against terrorism, specifying the April 22 attack against civilians.

'These countries have been the victims of terrorism themselves and have taken strong actions against terrorism. They're on the same page when we go with this message. All of them have issued strong statements against terrorism and specifically against the Pahalgam attack,' Panda said.

He expressed optimism over these countries taking possible action against Pakistan, pushing the neighbouring country to ' correct itself'.

'I am very optimistic that going forward, in both public and private behind-the-scenes efforts, they are certainly going to take some steps which will not be very encouraging for Pakistan. It will start pushing Pakistan in the direction of correcting itself,' Panda said.

Speaking on India's message against terrorism, the BJP leader said that the nation would resort to the 'new normal', which is retaliating and targeting terrorist bases in case of cross-border terrorism.

'Our message was very clear. We have gone through the same cycle of terrorism for 78 years. Pakistan sending cross-border terrorists and the whole rigmarole, provoking attacks and nuclear blackmail. We were there to explain the new normal. We will retaliate, and we will specifically target terrorist bases,' Panda asserted.

Expressing unwillingness to 'escalate' conflicts, Panda said that India would hit back if Pakistan escalates but would never go near the 'nuclear threshold'

'Two is that we don't want to escalate. We don't have anything against the Pakistani people. But if they escalate, we will hit them back and make it very costly for them, but never go near the nuclear threshold, and that nuclear bluff has already been exposed and called out,' he added.

The delegation led by Panda visited Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Algeria. It included members Nishikant Dubey (BJP), Phangnon Konyak (BJP), Rekha Sharma (BJP), Asaduddin Owaisi (All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen), Satnam Singh Sandhu, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and Harsh Shringla. (ANI)