Pakistan always finds opportunities to claim victory over India even when none exists. Sometimes they steal the trophies of Cricket tournaments after losing the match, sometimes they use video game footages and morphed images to claim military victory. This time, the Pakistani government has claimed victory in debate at Oxford University, because the Indian side didn’t attend the debate after they were told that the Pakistani side has not arrived.

The Pakistani High Commission in London yesterday posted a lengthy post on X, claiming that the Indian delegation scheduled to participate in the ‘high profile’ debate at the Oxford Union on 27 November withdrew at the last minute, effectively handing a walkover to the Pakistani side.

The parliamentary style debate was to be held on the motion, “This House Believes That India’s Policy Towards Pakistan Is a Populist Strategy Sold as Security Policy”, the high commission stated. According to them, the participants from Pakistani side were General (Retd) Zubair Mahmood Hayat, former Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, Hina Rabbani Khar, former Foreign Minister of Pakistan, and Mohammad Faisal, High Commissioner of Pakistan to the United Kingdom.

According to them, the participants from the Indian side were General M. M. Naravane, former Chief of Army Staff, Dr Subramanian Swamy and Sachin Pilot.

The Pakistani High Commission claimed that the Pakistani speakers had already arrived in London and were scheduled to proceed to Oxford today. The added, “Earlier this morning, however, the Oxford Union informed the organizers that all three Indian speakers had decided to pull out, offering no substantive explanation for their inability to attend a debate they had previously confirmed.”

Pakistan claimed that this withdrawal has caused considerable embarrassment for the Oxford Union, adding that they believe that “this last minute decision reflects a lack of confidence on the part of the Indian delegation in defending India’s Pakistan policy in an open, rules based forum.” They further boasted that Pakistan’s delegation came prepared to argue its case on the strength of facts, international law and regional stability considerations.

The high commission also reportedly claimed that India later proposed “obscure and low-profile replacements,” adding that the replacements “did not match the level of the Pakistani delegation and undermined the credibility and balance of the debate.” “The collective retreat of the Indian delegation amounted to an unchallenged victory for Pakistan,” the High Commission stated.

The comments of the High Commission were widely reported by Pakistani media, claiming that India backed out of the debate against Pakistan.

However, today Supreme Court lawyer Sai Deepak J exposed the lies of Pakistan, as he revealed how Indian side was misled to not attend the debate with false information, resulting in the walkover for Pakistan. According to him, the original participants from India were himself, Dr Subramaniyam Swami and General Naravane, which means Sachin Pilot was not scheduled to participate, as claimed by Pakistan.

Sai Deepak posted screenshots of mail sent to him by Moosa Harraj, the president of Oxford Union, confirming his participation at the debate. Notably, Moosa Harraj is the son of Muhammad Raza Hayat Harraj, the Minister of Defence Production in Pakistan’s federal government.

However, 2 days before the debate, the Oxford Union informed Sai that Dr. Swamy and General Naravane would be unable to attend the debate, and asked him to propose alternative names. Before he could suggest names, they called him to inform that Suhel Seth and Priyanka Chaturvedi will be joining the event, and they have confirmed their participation.

However, again on 26 November, a day before the debate, the Oxford Union called Sai Deepak saying that Seth and Chaturvedi also can’t attend at such a short notice. They asked him to propose alternatives from the UK so that there is no travel hassle. Accordingly, Pt Satish K. Sharma, author and MD of Global Hindu Federation, and writer-commentator Manu Khajuria, both based in London, were selected and they accepted to participate in the debate.

As a result, Sai Deepak travelled to London for the event on 27th November morning, and attended his hearings in the Supreme Court virtually. However, at 3:13 PM, just 3 hours before the debate, got a call from the Union informing him that the Pakistani side hadn’t even landed in London. Unhappy hearing this, Sai conveyed his displeasure at the abysmal handling of the event.

As they were told that the Pakistani side hadn’t turned up, the Indian side didn’t see the point in going to Oxford. Therefore, they decided to stay back in London. He sent a mail to Union president Moosa for the development, the Moosa replied with an apology. Moosa claimed that he received a call at 10 am a day earlier that the Pakistani team wouldn’t be coming.

However, turned out Oxford Union led by Pakistani Moosa Harraj, was lying all along. As it was later learnt that the Pakistani side had already arrived in UK and were put up at the George Street Hotel in Oxford. This same hotel was also booked by the union for Sai Deepak. The Pakistani debaters attended the event, and was declared winner as the Indian side was not present.

Satish K Sharma, who was scheduled to debate on behalf of India, confirmed the development. He said that they were on the way when Oxford Union ‘pulled the plug’.

He posted on X, “The prospect of a legal mind such as @jsaideepak, a real J n K Hindu human rights expert in our @KhajuriaManu, and myself a Dharmic Scholar versed in the true Partition story, was clearly too daunting a prospect. They came, they screamed, they fled, without even a verbal volley across the bows.”

In his thread, Sai Deepak said, “if the Pakistani team is still at Oxford, they should find the courage to debate us on the topic instead of doing an Operation Manhoos ki phati hui Baniyan where their Defense Minister couldn’t even produce evidence of their so-called success.” He asked why the Pakistani team hiding behind kids like their terrorists, instead of facing the Indians in a live debate for the world to see.

Addressing the Oxford University, he said that they have allowed the Union President and his coterie of compatriots to drag the institution in muck. “You have allowed the Oxford Union to become a concubinal mouthpiece of Pakistan, perhaps reflecting the general state of affairs,” he added.

Therefore, this makes it clear that the Oxford Union, and its Pakistani president, misled the Indian side to not attend the debate, by lying to them that the Pakistani side has not arrived. While in fact, the Pakistani representatives were already in Oxford, and were in the hotel arranged by the union for the event. As a result of India’s absence, they were declared winner. The claims of Pakistani High Commission that India decided to pull out is completely wrong.

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