Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has stated that India is not ready to make the first move towards the normalisation of ties with Pakistan after being betrayed time and again, and asked Islamabad to demonstrate seriousness by eliminating terror groups based there.
Tharoor stated this on Tuesday at the book launch of "Whither India-Pakistan Relations Today?", an anthology compiled by former ambassador Surendra Kumar.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP highlighted that every Indian outreach—from Jawaharlal Nehru’s pact with Liaqat Ali Khan in 1950, to Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s bus journey to Lahore in 1999, and Narendra Modi’s visit to Lahore in 2015—had been “betrayed” by hostility from across the border.
"With the history of Pakistani behavior, the onus rests on them. They are the ones who must make the first move to demonstrate some genuineness about removing terror networks from their soil. Why can't they be genuine about closing down these terror camps? Everyone knows where they are. The UN committee has a list of 52 names of people, organisations and locations in Pakistan. It's not that Pakistan is unaware that they exist," he said.
He further said, "Shut them down, arrest a few of these characters, demonstrate serious intent." Tharoor explained that India would respond if such action is initiated but will not initiate it.
Recalling the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008, Tharoor stated that India has supplied "overwhelming evidence" of Pakistani involvement, such as live intercepts and dossiers, but "not one mastermind has been prosecuted." He added that though New Delhi had shown "extraordinary restraint" following attacks, incessant provocations rendered India with few choices, resulting in surgical strikes in 2016 and Operation Sindoor.
In my book Pax Indica, which came out in 2012, I had cautioned that if ever there was another Mumbai-like attack of such magnitude, with Pakistani handprints on it, the restraint we had exercised in 2008 would be impossible and all bets would be off. And sure enough, that is precisely what happened.". No democratic state, not even India with its history of betrayals at the hands of Pakistan, could remain indifferent to its neighbor's battering of its civilians and innocent tourists with impunity," he said.
Tharoor also argued in favor of India's stance in deciding to stop hostilities with Pakistan in May, saying it was India's "successful strikes by its military and not US President Trump" that prompted Pakistan to ask for a ceasefire.
It was the successful attacks on the night of 9-10 May and India's capacity to intercept the Pakistani response when, in the morning of 10th May, they launched missiles towards Delhi, that added surely, not Mr Trump, to the request by the Pakistani DGMO to his Indian counterpart for peace," he said.
While US President Donald Trump has made repeated assertions of taking credit for stopping the war, India has resolutely argued that the ceasefire was an outcome of direct dialogue between the Indian and Pakistani DGMOs, without any outside intervention.
Tharoor went further to stress that "peace and tranquillity on the borders is indispensable to our national interest," noting examples of France and Germany reconciling after World War II and the eventual US-Vietnam relationship as examples of erstwhile enemies becoming partners.
The debate also involved former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal, former Indian ambassador to Pakistan TCA Raghavan, former Army chief General Deepak Kapoor, and academician Amitabh Mattoo.
Read also| Rekha Gupta Attacked: Man Who Assaulted Delhi CM Identified as Rajesh Khimji From Rajkot
