Echoing India’s resolve of ‘zero tolerance’ against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor asserted that no one in Pakistan can take India for granted and kill Indians without facing consequences.
Tharoor, leader of an all-party delegation to the United States, on Saturday (local time) emphasised that Operation Sindoor, carried out by the Armed Forces to avenge the Pahalgam terror attack, marks a new normal in India’s approach to combating terrorism.
“There has now got to be a new normal. No one sitting in Pakistan is going to be allowed to believe that they can just walk across the border and kill our citizens with impunity. There will be a price to pay, and that price has been going up systematically,” he said.
Tharoor said that New Delhi conveyed a clear message to Islamabad to stop hostilities, but it chose to respond with indiscriminate shelling, killing 19 civilians and injuring 59, including Carmelite nuns and Sikhs worshipping in a Gurudwara.
“It was officially conveyed to Pakistan to stop that act. There is a regular hotline between the two directors general of military operations. The message was conveyed that this was the intent, that it was pointed out that no military targets, no civilian targets, and no governmental targets had been hit, not even by accident. And that the message therefore had been delivered exactly and precisely to the terrorists and their handlers,” he said.
“Nonetheless, Pakistan chose to respond and respond, I’m sorry to say, with indiscriminate shelling across the border on the very first day and night, which sadly killed 19 civilians and grievously injured 59 others, including Carmelite nuns in a convent and Sikhs worshipping in a gurudwara. And others who happened to simply be in the line of fire because they lived in districts adjoining the Pakistani border,” he said.
However, after this incident, the Congress veteran said, India retaliated by hitting 11 Pakistani military targets, including a well-known air base near Pakistan’s military headquarters.
“When this happened, India had no choice but to retaliate in kind. The matters got worse the next day as the Pakistanis followed up artillery shelling with a serious invasion of drones and missiles. India’s air defences were able to hold them off, but in turn India returned the compliment and on the night of 10th May, India hit 11 Pakistani military targets, including a rather well-known air base that’s just 1.5 kilometres away from the military headquarters of Pakistan and Rawalpindi,” he said.
Tharoor said that after this attack by India, Pakistan’s Director General of Military Operations called the Indian side and asked for a cessation of offensives – something that India always supported.
“The following morning, we got a call that our director general of military operations got a call from the Pakistani Director General of Military Operations saying they’d like to stop this, and we said we’ve been saying all along. We didn’t want to start anything. We were just sending a message to terrorists. You started; we replied. If you stop, we’ll stop,” he said.
Tharoor said that although India bemoans the loss of lives, it also indicates a renewed sense of determination.
“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,” he said.
The all-party delegation to the United States, Guyana, Panama, Brazil, and Colombia led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor comprises Shambhavi Chaudhary (Lok Janshakti Party), Sarfaraz Ahmed (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha), G M Harish Balayagi (Telugu Desam Party), Shashank Mani Tripathi, Tejaswi Surya, Bhubaneswar K Lata (all from BJP), Mallikarjun Devda (Shiv Sena), and former Indian Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu.
The delegation was welcomed by the Indian Ambassador to the US, Vinay Mohan Kwatra.
In a post on X, the Indian Consulate in New York said, “Carrying forth to the world India’s strong message of zero tolerance against terrorism! The All-Party Delegation, led by Dr Shashi Tharoor welcomed by Amb. Vinay Mohan Kwatra in New York.”
The Tharoor-led delegation engaged with prominent think tanks, academic institutions, and members of the media in New York, highlighting the strategic ties between India and the United States and underscoring collaborative efforts to tackle the evolving threat of terrorism. The delegation conveyed India’s firm message of zero tolerance and unified national resolve against terrorism.
The delegation will project India’s national consensus and firm stance on combating terrorism in all its forms. They will carry India’s strong message of zero tolerance against terrorism to the global community during their outreach.