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The Hindu
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Pakistan likes to dangle nuclear bogey to get the world excited, Tharoor says in Washington
There was no significant risk that the recent fighting between India and Pakistan, following the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam, was approaching a nuclear threshold, according to Congress MP Shashi Tharoor. 'I think what happened was so far short of anything remotely approaching a nuclear threshold that the proposition, frankly, is laughable,' he said at a discussion at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington DC on Thursday (June 5, 2025). Mr Tharoor, who heads the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, is leading a multi-party delegation of lawmakers and former Ambassadors on a diplomatic outreach tour of Guyana, Panama, Colombia, Brazil, and the U.S. Seven such delegations have been dispatched around the world following the armed conflict between India and Pakistan in early May. 'Our Pakistani friends, I think, like to dangle this nuclear bogey to get all of you excited and anxious,' he said, when asked if the conflict came close to a nuclear war and if nuclear brinkmanship was to be expected in the future. 'We've got a nuclear power engaged in the war right now for two-and-a-half years in Europe, and no one has talked about nukes yet,' he said, asking why there was such a discussion just after a few days of fighting in India. [Mr. Tharoor was presumably referring to the Russia-Ukraine war which began in February 2022. There have been repeated discussions about and reporting on the risk of Russia using nuclear weapons]. Mr. Tharoor urged people not to worry about India using nuclear weapons, as he emphasised India's 'no first use' policy and Pakistan's lack of one. India's response via Operation Sindoor and the subsequent fighting with Pakistan was 'calibrated retribution' (for the attack in Pahalgam) and did not pose an existential threat to Pakistan, he said. 'Mediation not a term we will entertain' In his time in Washington so far, Mr. Tharoor has repeatedly pushed back against the prospect of U.S. mediation, a subject that has come up given U.S. President Donald Trump's claims that he brokered the May 10 ceasefire between the two countries and used trade with the U.S. as leverage to achieve it. 'I would never presume to tell the U.S. to stay the heck out of anything it wants to get involved in. But mediation is not a term that we are particularly willing to entertain,' he said, when asked if it was useful to have the U.S. as a mediator or broker or 'transmitter of signals'. 'Mediation' implied an equivalence, Mr. Tharoor said, arguing that there was no equivalence between terrorists and their victims. '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,' he added. Acknowledging the calls between officials in the Trump administration and Modi government, while the conflict was under way, Mr. Tharoor said the Americans perhaps wanted to keep themselves informed. He guessed that perhaps U.S. officials persuaded the Pakistanis to stop fighting, as it was Islamabad that needed persuading to call off the confrontation. Mr. Tharoor hit out at Pakistan's Army chief, Asim Munir, for a speech he had made a few days before the April 22 attack, in which he had asserted that Hindus and Muslims are fundamentally different. Mr. Munir's assertion was 'astonishingly bigoted', Mr. Tharoor said. Mr. Tharoor was asked by his son, who is a journalist, if any of the delegation's interlocutors had asked for evidence of who had carried out the April 22 attack. 'Very simply, no one had any doubt, and we were not asked for evidence, but media have asked,' the senior Tharoor said. He listed Pakistan's history of ties to terror attacks, the fact that former al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was found in Pakistan before being killed by U.S. forces in 2011. He also said The Resistance Front had claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack initially and pointed to Pakistani military presence at the funerals of terrorists killed by India in counter-strikes. 'This showed all the hallmarks of a sophisticated, planned, deliberate operation,' Mr. Tharoor said.
NDTV
3 days ago
- Politics
- NDTV
'No Terror Bases Here...': Shashi Tharoor On Asymmetry Of India-Pak Conflict
Quick Read Summary is AI generated, newsroom reviewed. Shashi Tharoor highlighted Pakistan's shelling of Indian civilians during a conflict, contrasting it with India's targeted strikes on terror infrastructure. He emphasized India's restraint and the need for Pakistan to address terrorism. New Delhi: Shashi Tharoor has pointed out Pakistan's indiscriminate shelling on civilian areas in India during the recent conflict as a big example of the "asymmetry of this particular conflict" since India's objective was to strike only at terror infrastructure in the neighbouring country. The Pakistani military, however, targeted civilian areas in India because "there are no terror bases in India to hit", Mr Tharoor told an audience which included former US Ambassador to India Kenneth I Juster. Mr Tharoor, who is the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, made the comments during an interaction in the US where he led a multi-party delegation of MPs as part of India's global diplomatic outreach after Operation Sindoor. "... All I can say is that the world of warfare has been changing dramatically since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict, and increasingly the use of drones, for example. It's striking that neither country [India and Pakistan] actually crossed over into the other's airspace at any stage of these four days [of the conflict]. Everything is being done from a distance now. Drones, missiles, technologies have moved quite significantly," Mr Tharoor said at a discussion hosted by the think tank Council on Foreign Relations. "What was old fashioned and awful and tragic was the indiscriminate Pakistani artillery shelling, which should never have been done in the manner it was. I mean, but you can understand why. We hit terror bases. There are no terror bases in India to hit. There are no terrorist organizations in India listed in the UN or the State Department or anywhere else. So what do you hit? You hit civilians," he said. "You hit innocent people. That is the asymmetry of this particular conflict. We have tried not just to be precise and calibrated in our response, but we have tried systematically to signal we are not interested in war with Pakistan. We're not interested in attacking Pakistani civilians or ordinary people. This is about India versus terrorism," Mr Tharoor said. He questioned why doesn't Pakistan shut down safe havens it has created for terrorists if it did not want to be hit. "And as far as we're concerned, situating the problem where it belongs is, if you don't want places in your territory to be hit because they're housing terrorists, why don't you shut down the safe havens? Why don't you arrest these leaders? Why don't you close their bank accounts? Why don't you disband these organizations or call them illegal? If you're not prepared to do any of that, then I'm afraid this is the only way we can deal with it, because we are not going to sit back at our homes and be hit at your convenience. That's not going to happen," Mr Tharoor added. Operation Sindoor that smashed terror infrastructure in Pakistan was not just an operation but a doctrinal change and a policy against terror, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in a televised address after India launched precision cruise missiles at terror facilities in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK). India later struck a large number of Pakistani military targets including radar sites and air bases. India's missile strikes came in response to the killing of 26 tourists by Pakistan-linked terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam.
Mint
3 days ago
- Business
- Mint
Tharoor-led Indian delegation to raise Trump's ‘ceasefire' claim, cross-border terror with US vice president Vance
New Delhi: A cross-party delegation led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor is set to meet US Vice President J.D. Vance in Washington on Thursday, two people familiar with the development said. The team is expected to raise concerns over Pakistan's continued support for cross-border terrorism, and may also seek clarity on US President Donald Trump's recent remarks about a ceasefire between India and Pakistan—comments that have caused unease in diplomatic circles, one of the people said. The Washington visit is part of a broader parliamentary outreach, with delegations travelling to Guyana, Panama, Colombia and Brazil to underline India's zero-tolerance policy on terrorism. The outreach follows the 22 April terror attack in Pahalgam, in which 26 people were killed, and India's retaliatory action, codenamed 'Operation Sindoor'. Read this | PM Narendra Modi hails Operation Sindoor for boosting sentiments for domestic manufacturing Alongside terrorism concerns, Tharoor, who chairs the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, is expected to raise recent US trade actions, including tariff hikes on Indian steel and aluminium. According to the second person, the team may also flag unresolved issues such as tariffs on Indian automobiles and metal products, and seek greater clarity on Washington's approach to the ongoing Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) talks. Read this | India seeks wider US market access for fruit, vegetables, easy sanitary regulations 'The team of Indian parliamentarians would apprise the US Vice President about Pakistan for shielding terrorists and allowing them to use Pakistani territory to carry out cross-border attacks," the person added. In response to an emailed query, a spokesperson for the US Embassy in New Delhi said: 'I can't make any announcements on the Vice President's schedule. I have to refer you to the Indian parliament for what they plan to raise." Queries to the Prime Minister's Office and the ministries of external affairs and commerce remained unanswered till press time. The seven-member delegation includes MPs from five political parties: Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Tejaswi Surya, Bhubaneswar Kalita, and Shashank Mani Tripathi; Taranjit Singh Sandhu (a BJP member and former Indian ambassador to the US); Sarfaraz Ahmad of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha; Ganti Harish Madhur Balayogi of the Telugu Desam Party; and Milind Deora of the Shiv Sena. The team began its engagements in Washington on Wednesday with a round of meetings on Capitol Hill, briefing US Senators and Representatives on India's experience with Pakistan-sponsored terror. 'Seven MPs representing five political parties, seven states—and we also have two ambassadors with us, the current and the former ambassador to Washington. We represent eight states and three religions," Tharoor noted during meetings with US Senators. 'I mention religions not because it should matter, but because the terrorists in Pahalgam tried to make religion an issue by asking their victims what their religion was before shooting them between the eyes," he added. Also read | Forces on alert, will retaliate if Pakistan uses military or terror ops: Narendra Modi warns 'They committed this heinous crime in a way that ensured there would be survivors to recount how those questions were asked. That is the message they wanted to send," said Tharoor. At a press conference held Wednesday at the National Press Club in Washington, Tharoor, along with BJP lawmaker Surya and Shiv Sena's Deora, sharply contrasted India's credentials as a reliable partner and investment destination with what they called Pakistan's continued role as an exporter of terrorism and regional instability.
New Indian Express
20-05-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
French senate panel offers support to India's fight against terrorism
NEW DELHI: A delegation from the French Senate on Tuesday extended strong support to India in its ongoing fight against terrorism and expressed solidarity in the aftermath of the recent terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. The visiting delegation was from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Armed Forces of the French Senate and was led by Vice Chair Catherine Dumas. The delegation met with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, chaired by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Tharoor said that the French delegation's visit had been scheduled before the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam and the subsequent Operation Sindoor. Despite the tragic events, the delegation chose to proceed with the visit to demonstrate their support.
India Gazette
20-05-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
"Ravi Shankar Prasad praised Rafale as symbol of close collaborations": Shashi Tharoor on interaction with French delegation
New Delhi [India], May 20 (ANI): Following an interaction with a French delegation, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs and Congress MP, Shashi Tharoor, highlighted the Rafale fighter jets as a symbol of the deepening Indo-French strategic partnership. Tharoor further stated that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Ravi Shankar Prasad praised Rafale as a symbol of close collaborations between India and France. While speaking to ANI, Tharoor said, 'We had a very strong and positive discussion on the strength of the Indo-French bilateral relationship, political, economic, strategic, military, all of that, and we also talked positively about the horizon for the future. In addition to that, the French visitors expressed strong support for India's position in the wake of the recent terrorist attack and our actions that followed. That support was very much appreciated by our committee.' He added, 'In addition, I was able to introduce them to my colleague, Ravi Shankar Prasad, who will be leading a delegation from India. It was a good meeting for all these purposes. Ravi Shankar Prasad praised Rafale as a symbol of our close was no detailed discussion of the military actions.' Meanwhile, Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday vowed to convey India's concerns effectively in front of the international community after being named as a member of the delegation visiting key partner countries to project India's continued fight against cross-border terrorism and Operation Sindoor. In the context of Operation Sindoor and India's continued fight against cross-border terrorism, seven all-party Delegations are set to visit key partner countries, including members of the UN Security Council. The all-party delegations will project India's national consensus and resolute approach to combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. They will convey to the world the country's strong message of zero tolerance for terrorism. Each delegation will include members of Parliament from different parties, prominent political personalities, and distinguished diplomats. The MPs, who will lead the delegations, are Shashi Tharoor (INC), Ravi Shankar Prasad and Baijayant Panda (BJP), Sanjay Kumar Jha (JD-U), Kanimozhi Karunanidhi (DMK), Supriya Sule (NCP) and Srikant Eknath Shinde (Shiv Sena). India had carried out Operation Sindoor early on May 7 in response to the Pahalgam terror attack and launched precise strikes on terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and PoJK. India responded effectively to Pakistan's subsequent aggression and pounded its airports. The countries have reached an understanding for stopping military action following a call made by Pakistan's DGMO to his Indian counterpart. (ANI)
