'No Equivalence With Terrorists': Shashi Tharoor Says Mediation Between India, Pakistan Not Possible
Tharoor said there was no scope for mediation between two unequals, stressing that there was no equivalence between terrorists and their victims.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has strongly asserted that there was no scope for external mediation between India and Pakistan, saying the two neighbouring countries are not equals, amid repeated claims by US President Donald Trump that he 'helped settle" the recent conflict.
While speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington on Thursday, Tharoor, who is leading an all-party delegation on Operation Sindoor, said there was no equivalence between terrorists and their victims.
'Mediation is not a term that we are particularly willing to entertain. I'll tell you why not. The fact is that this implies, even when you say things like broker or whatever, you're implying an equivalence which simply doesn't exist," he said at the event.
'There is no equivalence between a country that provides safe haven to terrorism, and a country that's a flourishing multi-party democracy that's trying to get on with its business."
'There is no equivalence between a state that is a status quo power that just wants to be left alone by its neighbours, where the neighbours don't agree with us, and a revisionist power that wants to upset the geopolitical arrangements that have existed for the last three-quarters of a century. There is no equivalence possible in these cases, and in these circumstances, to suggest that you can mediate between two unequals is not possible," Tharoor went on to say.
Tharoor has repeatedly denied Trump's claims of brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, after tensions flared when India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 in response to the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22. Both countries agreed to a ceasefire on May 10.
Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a 'full and immediate" ceasefire after a 'long night" of talks mediated by the United States, he has repeated his claim over a dozen times that he 'helped settle" the tensions between India and Pakistan.
During a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump against raked up the issue, saying he was 'very proud" to help stop the India-Pakistan conflict. 'I spoke to some very talented people on both sides, very good people on both sides," he said, adding that he warned of cancelling trade deals with both countries if the conflict persisted.
'You know what, I got that war stopped…Now, am I going to get credit? I'm not going to get credit for anything. They don't give me credit for anything. But nobody else could have done it. I stopped it. I was very proud of that," he added.
Speaking on the American role in the conflict, Tharoor said he is 'guessing to some degree" that their priority would have been to keep themselves informed, conversations on both sides, and 'certainly my government received a number of calls at high levels from the US government".
At the same time, the US must have been making similar calls at the highest levels to the Pakistan side, and 'our assumption is that's where, because that's the side that needed persuading to stop this process," he said.
India has been maintaining that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries.
(with PTI inputs)
First Published:
June 07, 2025, 09:04 IST
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