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‘Response to Pak first, accountability on govt later’: Shashi Tharoor on Pahalgam attack
Shashi Tharoor's earlier remark that “no country has foolproof intelligence,” did not seem to sit well with some members of his party
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Monday said that everyone was waiting to see the Centre's response to the Pahalgam terror attack and added that accountability on the government for potential lapses can be addressed later.
"In my opinion, a response should be given, and there should be a message in that response-- if you commit such acts, you cannot do so free of cost, and that era is over. This is the price to pay – and tomorrow, the price will be greater. If that message is not given, such incidents will continue to occur,” PTI news agency quoted Tharoor, who was speaking on the April 22 attack that killed 26 people, mostly tourists.
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The MP from Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram also sought to know whether this is the right time to call for accountability on the government or those issues should be addressed later. “We are all waiting for retaliation. The issue should be studied after closing this chapter,” he added.
Shashi Tharoor cited the example of political parties in Israel backing their prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu but calling for his resignation only after the war on Gaza. “I am also saying the same. There should be accountability. But this is not the time for that discussion,” said the senior CWC member.
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Tharoor on intelligence apparatus
The senior Congress leader's remark that “no country has foolproof intelligence,” did not seem to sit well with some members of his party who slammed Tharoor for allegedly backing the government.
“No country can ever have a foolproof 100% intelligence. We will never know about the various terror attacks that were successfully thwarted. We only get to know about the ones that we failed to thwart. This is normal in any nation. There were failures, I agree, but that should not be our main focus right now,” Tharoor had said.
Congress leader Udit Raj hit back by questioning Tharoor's political allegiance. “I want to ask Shashi Tharoor, is he in the Congress party or the BJP? Is he trying to become a super-BJP man? Shashi Tharoor should ask the BJP when the government is taking the Pok? Has Shashi Tharoor become the advocate of the BJP?” he said.
