India won’t take first step to normalise ties, onus on Pakistan: Tharoor
New Delhi, Aug 20: India no longer has the appetite to take the first step in normalising ties with Pakistan after repeated betrayals, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has said, urging Islamabad to demonstrate sincerity by dismantling terror networks operating from its soil.
He was speaking at the launch of the book “Whither India-Pakistan Relations Today?”, an anthology edited by former ambassador Surendra Kumar, on Tuesday.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said every Indian attempt at 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 Lahore visit in 2015 — had been “betrayed” by hostility from across the border.
“Given the record of Pakistani behaviour, the onus is on them. They’re the ones who have to take the first steps to show some sincerity about dismantling terror infrastructure on their soil.
“Why can’t they be serious about shutting down these terror camps? Everyone knows where they are. The UN committee has a list of 52 names of individuals, organisations and places in Pakistan. It’s not that Pakistan doesn’t know they exist,” Tharoor said.
He said, “Shut them down, arrest some of these characters, show some serious intent.” India would be more than willing to reciprocate once such action is taken, but won’t take the first step now, the Congress leader said.
Recalling the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, Tharoor said India had provided “overwhelming evidence” of Pakistani involvement, including live intercepts and dossiers, yet “not one mastermind has been prosecuted”.
He noted that New Delhi showed “extraordinary restraint” after attacks, but subsequent provocations left India with little choice, leading to surgical strikes in 2016 and ‘Operation Sindoor’.
“In my book Pax Indica, which was published in 2012, I had warned that if there was ever another Mumbai-like attack of comparable impact, with clear evidence of Pakistani complicity, the restraint we had shown in 2008 might become impossible and all bets would be off.
“And indeed, that is exactly what happened. No democratic government, least of all in India with its long record of betrayals by Pakistan, could sit idle while its neighbour assaults its civilians and innocent holidaymakers with impunity,” he explained.
Tharoor also supported India’s position on the cessation of hostilities with Pakistan in May following the military conflict, stating that it was India’s “successful military strikes and not US President Trump”, that prompted Pakistan to seek a ceasefire with India.
“The successful strikes on the night of 9-10 May and the ability of India to intercept the attempted Pakistani response, when they sent missiles to Delhi on the morning of 10th May, is what contributed undoubtedly, and not Mr Trump, to the call by the Pakistani DGMO to his Indian counterpart asking for peace,” he added.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly asserted that he played a key role in halting the conflict between India and Pakistan.
However, India has consistently stated that the agreement to cease hostilities was the result of direct communication between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the Indian and Pakistani armed forces, without external mediation.
Tharoor also stressed that “peace and tranquillity on the borders is indispensable to our national interest”, and cited the reconciliation between France and Germany after World War II, as well as the United States’ eventual ties with Vietnam, as examples of adversaries turning into partners.
The discussion was also joined by former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal, former Indian ambassador to Pakistan T C A Raghavan, ex-Army chief general Deepak Kapoor and academician Amitabh Mattoo.
