Given Pakistan's behavior, now onus is on them to take first step to normalise ties: Shashi Tharoor

Senior Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday said that India no longer has an appetite to take the first step in normalising ties after Pakistan's repeated betrayals. He also urged that Islamabad should sincerely demonstrate some effort by dismantling the terror infrastructure from its soil. 

Tharoor's remarks came during the launch of a book titled "Whither India-Pakistan Relations Today? Can they ever be good neighbors?", which is an anthology edited by former Indian ambassador Surendra Kumar. 

He said that every attempt by India at outreach, be it Jawaharlal Nehru's pact with Liaqat Ali Khan in 1950, or Atal Bihari Vajpayee's bus journey to Lahore in 1999, or Narendra Modi's 2016 visit to Lahore, has been "betrayed" by hostility from across the border. 

The Thiruvananthapuram MP stated, "Given the record of Pakistani behavior, the onus is on them. They are the ones who have to take the first steps to show some sincerity about dismantling terror infrastructure on their soil." 

Adding, "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." 

The Congress leader 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." 

Talking about the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, Tharoor said that India had provided overwhelming evidence of Pakistani involvement, including live intercepts and dossiers, yet "not one mastermind has been prosecuted." 

Tharoor highlighted how India showed "extraordinary restraint" after the attacks. Still, the provocations that followed subsequently left it with no choice, leading to the 2016 surgical strikes in Uri, and now the Operation Sindoor. 

He said, "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." 

The Congress leader explained, "And indeed, that is exactly what happened. No democratic government, least of all in India, with its long record of betrayals by Pakistan, would sit idle while its neighbour assaults its civilians and innocent holidaymakers with impunity." 

He reiterated that Operation Sindoor was halted because of India's successful strikes, not Trump's intervention. The operation "sent a very clear message that we will not sit quietly if terror is unleashed on us." 

Tharoor stressed that "peace and tranquility on the borders is indispensable to our national interest", giving examples of instances when France and Germany reconciled after World War II, and the USA and Vietnam's eventual ties, turning partners from adversaries. 

Former Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal, former Indian ambassador to Pakistan TCA Raghavan, ex-Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor, and academician Amitabh Mattoo were also present at the book launch, who joined Tharoor in the discussion.