Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday spoke at Indian consulate in New York about India’s Operation Sindoor as a response to the terror attack in Pahalgam. Tharoor is leading an all- party delegation as a part of India’s diplomatic outreach after Operation Sindoor.
Talking about the new norm after the Pehalgam attacks, he said that no one will be allowed to believe they can just walk across the border and kill Indian citizens with impunity, as he asserted that there will be a “price to pay.”
He said that India did not want to start anything "We were just sending a message to terrorists. You started, we replied. If you stop, we stop. And they stopped. There was an 88-hour war. We look back on that with a great deal of frustration because it needn’t have happened at all. Lives have been lost. But at the same time, we look back on this experience with a steely and renewed sense of determination.”
Tharoor also emphasised that for some years now India has has focused on “being the world's fastest growing free markets democracy, attempting to focus on the development of our economy.”
On Pahalgam attack
Tharoor also spoke about the details of the April 22 Pahalgam attack in which 26 people lost their lives. He highlighted the horrific manner in which the tourists were targeted based on their religion, and the retaliatory measures taken by India through Operation Sindoor, which targeted terror infrastructure in Pakistan through precision strikes.
India not interested in warfare with Pakistan
Clarifying that India is not interested in warfare with Pakistan and “ would much rather be left alone to grow our economy,” Tharoor said that India has no desire to have anything that Pakistan has, referring to India as “status quo power”, while Pakistan as “revisionist power.” He said that Pakistan wants to have the territory that India controls at any price. "If they can't get it through conventional means, they're willing to get it through terrorism,” he said, calling it unacceptable.
{{/usCountry}}Clarifying that India is not interested in warfare with Pakistan and “ would much rather be left alone to grow our economy,” Tharoor said that India has no desire to have anything that Pakistan has, referring to India as “status quo power”, while Pakistan as “revisionist power.” He said that Pakistan wants to have the territory that India controls at any price. "If they can't get it through conventional means, they're willing to get it through terrorism,” he said, calling it unacceptable.
{{/usCountry}}Determined that there “has to be a bottom line” to this, he highlighted that India has tried everything “from giving international dossiers, complaints to the sanctions committee, diplomacy.” Still Pakistan has not made any attempt to prosecute the terrorist or to dismantle the terror infrastructure.
Time had come to hit hard
Stating that he works for the opposition, he mentioned writing an op-ed after the Pahalgam attack, saying "the time had come to hit hard, hit smart," and praised India's precise strikes, adding that it sent a clear message. Tharoor noted that this was not “meant to be the opening salvo in a protracted war, but just an act of retribution."