India reacted in self-defense to a ‘terrorist outrage,' says Congress Leader Tharoor
India has no interest in behaving like terrorists and killing civilians, said Dr. Shashi Tharoor, responding to a question about retaliatory Indian missile strikes on Pakistan having allegedly killed innocent children.
'All India did was react in self-defense to a terrorist outrage. […] There is no proactive military engagement coming from the Indian side. Beyond the attacks in reprisal to the terrorism. Nothing at all,' he said.
India has accused Pakistan of perpetrating the Pahalgam attack, which killed 26 civilians last month in India-administered Kashmir.
Pakistan denied any involvement.
Indian MP @ShashiTharoor warns that #Pakistan 's continued military provocations could lead to escalation, urging global capitals, especially Beijing, to pressure Pakistan to de-escalate and avoid further conflict. #India #GNT pic.twitter.com/JavJWmngTd
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) May 9, 2025
In an interview on GNT presented by Al Arabiya English's Tom Burges Watson, the Indian Congress Leader and Chairperson of the Parliamentary standing Committee for External Affairs said India does not want to start a war.
'All India wanted to do was to make it very clear that people from Pakistan can't just come across the border, kill innocent civilians who are just enjoying a tourist holiday and walk back across without having to pay a price for it,' Tharoor said.
Pakistan has said that there are no terror sites in the country and that Indian missiles only struck civilians and mosques.
However, Tharoor said that India conducted the operation in an 'extremely careful and calibrated manner,' adding that only terrorist sites were targeted.
'These are extremely well-known terror bases. […] We have absolutely no interest in behaving like terrorists and killing civilians. There is no question in my mind that India would have been very happy to merely dismantle the terrorist infrastructure rather than even take a single human life,' he said.
While saying that India's operation in Pakistan was of a non-escalatory nature and it does not want to escalate tensions further, the Congress leader accused Pakistan of over-reacting and showing a lack of restraint.
'As long as Pakistan decides that they're not anxious to have an all-out war, there will not be one,' he said. 'If, however, the Pakistani army, which is deeply unpopular in its own country, has decided that they actually do want a war in order to shore up their faltering and tottering image as the savior of the nation, then, of course, the Pakistan military will get what it wants.'
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