NEW DELHI: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, leading an all-party delegation to the United States as part of Operation Sindoor's global outreach, said on Saturday that India had once extended a hand of peace to Pakistan, only to be met with a terror attack.
Reflecting on India’s past approach, Tharoor recalled the 2016 Pathankot Airbase attack that came just weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprise visit to Pakistan.
“In January 2015, there was an attack on an Indian Airbase, and our Prime Minister had just made a visit to Pakistan the previous month,” Tharoor said at the Indian Consulate in New York.
“So when this happened, he was so astonished that he actually called the Pakistani Prime Minister and said, ‘Why don't you join the investigation?’... Imagine the horror of the Indian military establishment... but they came and went back to Pakistan and said all the Indians did it to themselves.”
Tharoor also recalled the Pakistan-sponsored terror attack in Mumbai, which killed over 150 people. He said the attackers in Mumbai received minute-by-minute instructions directly from handlers in Pakistan.
He also referred to the United States' own response to the 9/11 attacks, the mission to hunt down Osama Bin Laden, known as 'Operation Neptune Spear'.
“And as you know, thereafter, Pakistan’s claim not to know where Osama Bin Laden was - until he was found in a safehouse right next to an army cantonment, in a city dominated by the army. This is Pakistan,” he said.
Tharoor called it a “lost opportunity” for Pakistan to prove its sincerity.
“I am afraid for us, 2015 was the last opportunity for them to behave, to cooperate, to really show they were serious about ending terror,” Congress MP said.
'Hit hard, hit smart'
Now, nearly a decade later, India has responded differently, following the Pahalgam massacre with a series of precise strikes under Operation Sindoor, launched on May 7 targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
“We are determined now that there's got to be a new bottom line to this,” said Tharoor.
“We have tried everything - international dossiers, complaints... Pakistan has remained in denial... no serious prosecution, no attempt to dismantle the terror infrastructure, and the persistence of safe havens.”
Referring to the strikes, he added: “You (Pakistan) do this, you are going to get this back, and we have demonstrated with this Operation that we can do it with a degree of precision.”
The all-party delegation, led by Tharoor, includes MPs from Congress, BJP, Shiv Sena, JMM, TDP, LJP, and former Indian Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu. Their goal is to present India’s united stand against terrorism to international audiences.
Their visit began at the 9/11 Memorial in New York, a symbolic gesture linking global victims of terror and underlining the shared threat.
“This is about projecting India’s national consensus, that terrorism must be confronted, and that safe havens will no longer be tolerated,” Tharoor said.
The outreach tour will include meetings with government officials, lawmakers, foreign policy experts, think tanks, and media across the Americas.