Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), May 8, 2025 (ANI): Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Thursday praised the precision and strategic restraint demonstrated by India in Operation Sindoor, terming it a "well-calibrated and effectively executed" response to cross-border terrorism. Emphasising India's moral high ground and focus on avoiding civilian casualties, Tharoor lauded the targeting of UN-designated terrorist bases while cautioning Pakistan against further escalation.In an interview with ANI, Tharoor said he was impressed by the codename of the operation "Sindoor" conducted by Indian Armed Forces against Pakistan in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack and said it sent out a telling message. "The operation was well-calibrated, well-calculated, and effectively executed. I am very impressed, from the naming of the operation to how it was presented to the world. We had to respond. We could not allow Pakistani terrorists to believe that they can walk into our country, kill civilians, and get away with it. They had to be punished. At the same time, an indiscriminate action on our part could have needlessly provoked an escalation and cost us the sympathy of the world," Tharoor said.
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00:00I think the operation was extremely well calibrated, well calculated and effectively executed.
00:06I am very impressed with everything from the naming of the operation to the manner in which it was presented to the world in the briefing yesterday.
00:14And, of course, above all, the actual operation itself.
00:17We did so at night between 1.05 and 1.30.
00:20The message is very clear.
00:22We are not anxious to strike at a time when there might be a lot of civilians wandering around the streets.
00:28We want to avoid collateral damage.
00:30We are not interested in killing innocent people, unlike the terrorists themselves.
00:33Our job is not to fire the first salvo in a protracted conflict.
00:39Our job is to teach them a lesson and wash our hands of the matter.
00:43That's the idea of what our strike is all about.
00:46And I believe that signal has come across extremely well.
00:49We are not putting a foot on the escalatory ladder.
00:53So the ball is very much on Pakistan's court.
00:55If they decide to escalate, how are they going to escalate?
00:59We don't have any terrorist bases in India.
01:01They can only attack the army.
01:02They can only attack civilians.
01:04Or they can attack the government of India.
01:06If they do that, then we will give them absolute hell.
01:10They control the largest share of the GDP and the national budget of Pakistan than any army in the world controls of any country in the world.
01:17So Pakistan's army is the most sort of pampered institution in the world.
01:23They had a couple of military objectives in mind.
01:26One was they knew India would react.
01:28And when India reacted, the army would have a chance to portray itself as the heroes, the saviors of the nation.
01:35Their faltering reputation in the country could have been revived by being the brave defenders of Pakistan against Indian attacks.
01:42The messaging, the way in which in the press conference, the foreign secretary, who is himself a Kashmiri, Kashmiri Pandit, was flanked on both sides by women officers, one of whom was a Muslim, to demonstrate that the narrative of Hindu-Muslim hostility, which the Pakistanis are spreading, this silly General Munir, this Islamist ideologue, was claiming that Hindus and Muslims can never live together.
02:05Not only are they living together in India, they're standing side by side, united against terrorism from Pakistan.
02:12Three countries, Russia, France and Israel, are the only ones that have specifically shown understanding publicly for India's right to defend itself against terrorism.
02:21All the others have been silent on that subject.
02:24Any situation of national crisis, we must be united.
02:27Political differences stop when it comes to national security.
02:31And as far as I'm concerned, I think the Congress was first off the bat to quickly announce its complete support for the government and the armed forces.
02:39We are standing, all of us together, united in this matter.
02:43Uri, we sent a squad across the LOC to attack the terrorist base.
02:48One level up.
02:50Then, sadly, Pulwama, we sent a strike against Balakot.
02:56One more level up.
02:57Then, Pelga, we went yet higher with nine strikes, including in Pakistani Punjab, which we hadn't done before.
03:05Tomorrow, if the Pakistanis are foolish enough to attack us again, we will go still higher.
03:10I have no doubt about that.
03:11I think the operation was extremely well calibrated, well calculated and effectively executed.
03:17I am very impressed with everything from the naming of the operation to the manner in which it was presented to the world in the briefing yesterday.
03:25And, of course, above all, the actual operation itself.
03:28Because we had to respond.
03:31We could not leave the Pakistani terrorists with the impression that they can walk into our country, kill civilian tourists, walk away and get away with impunity.
03:41They had to be punished.
04:11So, the world knows that these are actually really terrorist organizations.
04:18And it's their basis we have hit, whatever the Pakistanis may say.
04:22Secondly, we did so at night, between 105 and 130.
04:27The message is very clear.
04:28We are not anxious to strike at a time when there might be a lot of civilians wandering around the streets.
04:34We want to avoid collateral damage.
04:36We are not interested in killing innocent people, unlike the terrorists themselves.
04:40We are interested only in dealing with the terrorists.
04:43Third, we took great care to ensure that we did not strike any Pakistani military installations or government facilities.
04:53What was the reason for that?
04:54It's not that we believe the military is innocent.
04:56On the contrary, we are quite sure that these terrorists are systematically created, trained, financed, equipped, and guided and directed by the Pakistani military, or at least by elements within the Pakistani military.
05:09But we don't want to convey the impression that we're itching for a war.
05:14Our job is not to fire the first salvo in a protracted conflict.
05:20Our job is to teach them a lesson and wash our hands of the matter.
05:24That's the idea of what our strike is all about.
05:27And I believe that signal has come across extremely well.
05:30So now when the world calls for restraint, the restraint is not on us.
05:34We are not only restrained, we are silent.
05:36We're not doing anything more.
05:38It is upon Pakistan that the onus is not to overreact.
05:42As you know, Pakistan has sadly reacted very, very cruelly with heavy artillery shelling on civilian areas.
05:49They have killed 15 people in Poonch.
05:5159 people are in hospital today.
05:53They are talking, there are still attacks going on.
05:55There are still attacks going on.
05:56But even there, we have confined ourselves to reacting in kind.
06:00We have also fired artillery back at them and nothing more.
06:03So the truth is that we have been responsible citizens of the world throughout this exercise.
06:10We have shown that there can be zero tolerance for terrorism.
06:14We have demonstrated that we have a sovereign right to defend ourselves against terror and to take action against terrorism.
06:21But at the same time that we are not interested in creating any conflict situation of a durable nature, we are not putting a foot on the escalatory ladder.
06:34So the ball is very much on Pakistan's court.
06:36If they decide to escalate, how are they going to escalate?
06:40We don't have any terrorist bases in India.
06:42They can only attack the army.
06:43They can only attack civilians or they can attack the government of India.
06:47If they do that, then we will give them absolute hell.
06:50There's no question about that.
06:52We are prepared.
06:53I have no doubt about that.
06:54I have close, close friends and relatives in the army.
06:57Our people are fully alert and ready in the event of any Pakistani misadvention.
07:02Sir, do you see this happening now, escalation?
07:05Because the way Pakistan is reacting to it, and in fact, there is a lot of self-patting.
07:11Yesterday, I saw the Shahbaz Sharif address.
07:13They are saying that the strategy objective has failed and, you know, their air force have been able to push them back.
07:20See, you have to understand that the Pakistani military was unpopular already before all of this happened.
07:27Their unpopularity came from a number of things.
07:30Their disproportionate control of life in Pakistan, of the politics of Pakistan, the fact that the government was widely seen as a puppet,
07:38and the fact that they control the largest share of the GDP and the national budget of Pakistan than any army in the world controls of any country in the world.
07:48So Pakistan's army is the most sort of pampered institution in the world of its kind.
07:54Now, what have they given the people of Pakistan in return?
07:58Nothing.
07:58The people of Pakistan are suffering a stagnant economy, power cuts, water shortages, food shortages, various calamities going on.
08:07And the perception is since the army controls the government, the army is also to blame.
08:13And on top of that, they have locked up the most popular leader in Pakistan, Imran Khan, popped him in jail.
08:17So for them, I think that this misadventure in Pahel Ghan, this criminal terrorist outrage that they conducted,
08:27was at least partly motivated by a desire to put themselves back in the center.
08:32They had multiple objectives.
08:34They wanted definitely to affect tourism in Kashmir.
08:38They wanted to hurt the economy of Kashmir, which was benefiting from a tourist boom.
08:42They wanted to thereby increase disaffection in Kashmir amongst the people and turn them against the rest of India.
08:49And at the same time, I believe they had a couple of military objectives in mind.
08:54One was they knew India would react.
08:56And when India reacted, the army would have a chance to portray itself as the heroes, the saviors of the nation.
09:03Their faltering reputation in the country could have been revived by being the brave defenders of Pakistan against Indian attacks.
09:11And at the same time, I think they wanted to re-hyphenate India and Pakistan in the global imagination
09:17and show the world that Kashmir was still an unresolved issue, whereas the world was forgetting all of this.
09:23You remember that during the G20, so many foreign countries came for meetings in Kashmir.
09:28Ambassadors are regularly traveling to Kashmir.
09:31There was a sense that Kashmir was coming back to normal.
09:33They wanted to end all of that.
09:34Now, all of these were the Pakistani military's objectives.
09:37And any person from the outside can see this for what it is.
09:42I am very much of the view that these objectives had to be thwarted by us.
09:49And we are doing all the right things so far.
09:52The nature of Operation Sindhu was right.
09:55The messaging, the way in which in the press conference, the foreign secretary, who is himself a Kashmiri, Kashmiri Pandit,
10:00was flanked on both sides by women officers, one of whom was a Muslim, to demonstrate that the narrative of Hindu-Muslim hostility,
10:09which the Pakistanis are spreading, this silly General Munir, this Islamist ideologue, was claiming that Hindus and Muslims can never live together.
10:18Not only are they living together in India, they're standing side by side, united against terrorism from Pakistan.
10:23What a good message we have given.
10:26Do you think that our strategic objective is served?
10:30And also, but one more thing I want to add, sir, we are seeing world reactions.
10:35Most of the big powers are supporting us.
10:38But minus one.
10:39How do you see the role of China in this now?
10:43Do you think China is going to be more complicated than support and lack of support?
10:46All countries have called for restraint and calm and peace and so on.
10:51That's normal.
10:52No one wants to see an escalating war between two nuclear powers.
10:56Three countries, Russia, France and Israel, are the only ones that have specifically shown understanding publicly for India's right to defend itself against terrorists.
11:05All the others have been silent on that subject, even though America, in principle, should have said something,
11:10given that they are the ones who reacted when they were attacked by terrorists.
11:14Most strongly, the famous attack on Afghanistan after 9-11.
11:20But still, they haven't said that.
11:21They've kept trying to convey an even-handedness to Trump, saying he gets along with both countries and so on.
11:28China, surprisingly, did not actually take as pro-Pakistan a stand, as your question is implying.
11:35What China said was, both India and Pakistan are our neighbors, and we don't want a conflict in our neighborhood.
11:42We would want peace.
11:44We would want both countries to actually exercise restraint and calm and come back to peace.
11:48That is actually not a negative message for us, by comparison with the fact that China has historically called themselves an all-weather friend of Pakistan
11:57and has given Pakistan support and military equipment and technology and all of that.
12:03What China said suggests that they are not oblivious of the fact that relations with India were in the process of warming,
12:09and what is more that the Indian market is all the more important to China today in the Trumpian world of high tariffs and more withdrawals from China.
12:20China needs India in a way they didn't need India before.
12:23So, I don't think at this stage that China's reaction should cause us any undue alarm and concern.
12:30If there really were a war, of course, China would be supporting Pakistan.
12:33But to prevent a war, I think China will take a constructive approach, in my view.
12:39I may be wrong.
12:40Remember, I don't have access to any classified information.
12:44But this is my assessment.
12:45Publicly, they have shown a balanced approach, you're saying.
12:48This is my assessment, yeah.
12:50Sir, another thing, now coming to the domestic part of it,
12:53we have seen opposition also standing with the government on this,
12:57surprisingly, because there has been a lot of,
12:59they were at loggerheads on all issues almost in India.
13:03But here, I think they are all standing today,
13:05when we are talking, the all-party meeting will be going on in the Parliament House.
13:09How do you see this kind of synthesis,
13:13or you can, synchronization between the opposition and the government?
13:18I think this is extremely important.
13:20In any situation of national crisis, we must be united.
13:24Political differences stop when it comes to national security.
13:29And as far as I'm concerned, I think the Congress was first off the bat
13:32to quickly announce its complete support for the government and the armed forces.
13:37We are standing, all of us together, united in this matter.
13:40The government, too, has done its part.
13:42By both before and after Operation Sindhu,
13:44taking the opposition parties into confidence,
13:48by calling all-party meetings,
13:50these were, in my view, the right things for the government to do.
13:54And I think if we signal to the world that we are united,
13:58there's nothing we can't achieve.
14:00We must not, at this time, give any impression of disunity.
14:04And I believe there is no disunity.
14:05I believe the country fully understands
14:08why the government did what it did,
14:10and stands with the government and the armed forces in this matter.
14:13We are all under the same flag together.
14:16And there's no doubt about that.
14:18Dr. Tharoor, my last question to you.
14:20You have little time.
14:21Dr. Tharoor, I have to ask this question because you belong to Congress Party
14:25and you were in the previous government.
14:27Do you see any difference between the response by the government?
14:31Your 26-11 happened during your regime.
14:33There was no such response.
14:34But after that, successive attacks.
14:37This government had responded differently.
14:39I see the government as one government,
14:43as one continuity,
14:45in which we have learned lessons at each stage.
14:48We try one thing.
14:50If that doesn't work, we try something else.
14:51Then we try something else.
14:52If you look at the record,
14:542008, 26-11,
14:56we tried the diplomatic route.
14:58We had the number of Pakistani organizations
15:00placed on the UN Sanctions Committee list.
15:03We put Pakistan on the gray list of the FATF,
15:05the Financial Action Task Force.
15:07We isolated Pakistan diplomatically.
15:10Then came Patankot.
15:11Prime Minister Modi even invited the Pakistanis
15:14to join the investigation into that attack.
15:16They sent their intelligence people to our airbase at Patankot
15:19and they went back to Pakistan and said,
15:21oh, the Indians did it to themselves.
15:24That was the last straw.
15:25Next time, Uri, we sent a squad across the LOC
15:30to attack the terrorist base.
15:32One level up.
15:33Then, sadly, Pulwama,
15:36we sent a strike against Balakot.
15:39One more level up.
15:41Then, Pehelga, we went yet higher
15:44with nine strikes,
15:45including in Pakistani Punjab,
15:47which we hadn't done before.
15:49Tomorrow, if the Pakistanis are foolish enough
15:51to attack us again,
15:52we will go still higher.
15:53I have no doubt about that.
15:54It is the government of India
15:56learning its lessons
15:57and going step by step up.
15:59And we can say this to the world.
16:02We did not give you a knee-jerk reaction.
16:04We have been a victim of Pakistani terror
16:06for three decades.
16:09We have shown incredible self-restraint,
16:11far more than the U.S. would ever have shown.
16:14And yet, we have been rewarded with more attacks.
16:18That is why we are now escalating,
16:22but within a very reasonable style of behavior.
16:26And we expect the world to understand,
16:29and I believe the world will understand.
16:31Thank you, Dr. Throor,
16:32for a very, very interesting
16:34and very, very enlightening conversation.
16:36Thank you so much.
16:38Thanks.