The Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI) on Sunday, May 18, strongly protested the inclusion of former Union minister of state for external affairs and veteran journalist MJ Akbar in the all-party delegation for international engagement following Operation Sindoor, citing longstanding allegations of sexual harassment against him.

Akbar has been accused of sexual harassment by several female journalists during the #MeToo movement in 2018. According to NWMI, sending him as part of a delegation for Operation Sindoor, which has been hailed as a mission to protect the honour and dignity of Indian women, sends the wrong message.

“Operation Sindoor has been pitched as a mission to protect the honour and dignity of Indian women. It was launched in response to the Pahalgam terror attack on 22 April 2025, which left several women widowed,” read the NWMI statement.

“The Operation was presented not only as a military response but as a tribute to the resilience of Indian women. In light of this framing, the inclusion in such a delegation of a figure like MJ Akbar, with a history of serious allegations of sexual harassment, risks sending a regressive signal to survivors of sexual harassment and diminishes India’s credibility on issues of gender justice,” it added.

The Indian government selected seven MPs to lead respective delegations to assigned countries and present India’s evidence and stance on the zero-tolerance policy against terrorism and the Pahalgam terror attack, which led to Operation Sindoor.

The seven Indian delegates comprising parliamentarians, political leaders and former diplomats, is headed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs Baijayant Jay Panda and Ravi Shankar Prasad; Janata Dal (United) leader Sanjay Jha; Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Shinde; Congress’s Shashi Tharoor; Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi; and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) leader Supriya Sule.

Akbar is a part of the delegation led by senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad, which will be headed to Europe to brief the European Union and countries including the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Denmark.