Leading a multi-party delegation to the US, the Congress MP lauded Operation Sindoor and underscored India’s steadfast national resolve to combat terrorism — united in voice, resolute in action.
New York: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor praised India's strikes on terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir under Operation and said that India 'hit hard and smart'. Leading a multi-party delegation to five countries as part of India's global anti-terrorism outreach under Operation Sindoor, Tharoor also highlighted India's strong yet measured and calibrated response to the dastardly Pahalgam terror attack, during a statement made in New York recently.
"...the time had come to hit hard and hit smart and I'm pleased to say that's exactly what India did... Operation Sindoor has shown Pakistan that India can hit terrorism infrastructure with a 'degree of precision' and put it on notice that if its terrorists hit New Delhi, there will be consequences," Tharoor said as his team of members of Parliament brought the anti-terrorism message to the US.
"The perpetrators of terror should indeed be brought to justice, and we are not going to stop our hunt for those who did this latest atrocity," the Congress leader said. "We have tried everything, international dossier, complaints," to no avail, he said, explaining why India directly attacked the terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and the areas of Kashmir it occupies.
Speaking at India's consulate here, he called for global solidarity against terrorism and explained how India has suffered from terrorism and was forced to act. Tharoor said the visit to the 9/11 memorial was "a reminder that this is a shared problem, but also out of a spirit of solidarity with the victims".
The team sent "a very strong message that we are here in a city which is still bearing the scars of that savage terrorist attack in the wake of yet another terrorist attack in our own country", he said.
Tharoor said, "The Pahalgam attack was planned by those who wanted to disrupt the process of normalisation in Kashmir and damage the prosperity of the Kashmiri people. Their broader aim was also to provoke a bigger backlash in the rest of India by trying to make it a religious issue, singling out their victims by religion."
But it failed because "there was an extraordinary amount of togetherness cutting across religious and other divides in India that people have tried to provoke", he said. He said that TRF (The Resistance Front) took responsibility for the Pahalgam killings. India had informed the UN Security Council's anti-terrorism sanctions committee about the TRF, he said.
India's consulate said that the MPs also met with prominent think tanks, academics, and media to "highlight the strategic ties between India and the US and underscore the collaborative efforts to tackle the evolving threat of terrorism".
India reiterates talks and terror can’t go togetherNew Delhi: India has made it clear once again that any engagement with Pakistan will only be bilateral; terror and talks cannot go together; and the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) will remain in abeyance until Pakistan "credibly and irrevocably abjures" its support for cross-border terrorism. "We have been very clear and consistent in our position regarding any engagement with Pakistan - that it has to be bilateral. At the same time, we are clear that talks and terror don't go together. On terrorism itself, we are open to discussing the handing over to India of noted terrorists whose list was given to Pakistan some years ago," Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated during a weekly media briefing in New Delhi. The MEA's strong response came at a time when Pakistan, pushed on the backfoot by India's decisive Operation Sindoor, has suddenly started talking about its intent to have peace talks with India. |
