In an exclusive interview with India Today, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor hailed Operation Sindoor. He said it was calibrated and very, very calculated as an action.
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00:00I'm joined by the senior Congress MP who's also the chairperson of the Standing Committee on
00:10External Affairs and he's been a senior UN diplomat Shashi Tharoor joins us appreciate
00:15your joining us Dr. Tharoor you've come out strongly in support of the government action
00:21and operation Sindhoor you've said we've made our point acted in self-defense and then gone
00:26on to say it's time for all concerned to act wisely to prevent uncontrolled escalation how
00:33do you expect a de-escalation to take place how do you see Operation Sindhoor well look first of all
00:40I think Operation Sindhoor was extremely well done it was calibrated it was very very calculated as
00:46an action if you look at the fact that they hit nine terrorist launch pads terrorist headquarters
00:53well-known terrorist bases no one has any doubt about any of these locations Muridke for example
00:58even though it's in Pakistan proper has been talked about for many many years as the LED headquarters
01:04no one has any doubt that what India hit were legitimate targets but at the same time India
01:10went out of its way to be careful with two two things first it didn't strike any Pakistani government or
01:18military installations that was in order not to give them a provocation to escalate second it did so
01:24at night I did so at night so that it would minimize collateral damage among civilians I thought that was
01:31a very sensible thing to do Muridke for example is a populated town if people have been out in the
01:37streets when we attacked there would have been civilian casualties we hit at 105 to 130 and very very
01:44few people risk collateral damage in the process so I think India was conveying through its choice of
01:51targets and the way in which it did it that look we are taking action to react against terrorism to show
01:57that the show the terrorists that there will be a price to pay for their actions but at the same time
02:03we were conveying we are not interested in this being the opening salvo of a protracted war this is
02:10clearly a one-off action now Pakistan of course for its own wounded pride has been issuing blood
02:18curdling threats in the voice of its Prime Minister threatening further retaliation we will have to see
02:23because you know the fact is that they can say these things what they actually do is what will determine
02:30we've seen some very very increased shelling across the LOC and unfortunately we've lost 10 civilian
02:38lives on our side of the LOC because of Pakistani shelling uh will that be enough for them to feel
02:44their honor has been satisfied I don't know there will be a couple of other things happening Razeev that
02:49you and I can't sit here and and and estimate they will certainly be a lot of diplomatic pressure taking
02:56place uh uh and I think the pressure would be principally on Islamabad because we don't need to be told
03:03not to take further action we're not planning to take further action even in retaliating to artillery
03:08fire we've kept to artillery fire we're trying to show that we are balanced and restraint it is only
03:14Islamabad that has if you like the key of control up the escalatory ladder and if they decide that they
03:23are going to to to do something more serious for example um uh sending a missile across to a civilian
03:28area a city in India or sending a plane or planes across to bomb our country or whatever that kind
03:35of escalation then of course we will be forced to react in kind and the message probably is going from
03:41a lot of capitals to Pakistan don't go that far don't do anything that prompts India to respond in
03:50kind because then there will be no controlling where this goes and remember that our capacity to sustain a
03:57conflict but they have a stagnant economy uh there are media reports that's unconfirmed reports that
04:05essentially uh their uh army would be out of fuel in four days time it's not exactly a country really
04:13prepared for a long war with India I would hope that common sense will prevail you say you hope common
04:23sense will prevail but as we've seen sometimes when you go up an escalatory spiral there can be
04:28miscalculations or or things can spiral out of control your sense the world capitals by and large
04:35are saying it's time to ratchet down the temperature to get the two sides to to find some kind of a
04:41modus vivendi some kind of a dialogue do you believe that's really possible given what happened
04:46in pehelgam and pakistan's long history with terror and its refusal in a way to abandon the terror factory
04:53do you believe that what we've done with operation sindoor is enough in the in a sense to act as a
05:00deterrent no look I think we have made our point and for now that point has been pretty effectively made
05:06uh the calls for dialogue are sort of really much boilerplate Rajdeep we're not going to be in dialogue with
05:13the Pakistanis for a long time to come the calls for restraint however are well placed and if uh
05:20countries like the US the UK France Russia and even China tell the Pakistanis cool it uh it's quite
05:29possible that we may actually be able to return to the kind of tense stalemate that prevailed uh for
05:38very many years now after by the court in 2019 remember we've already in pretty bad shape between
05:44the two countries there are no high commissioners or ambassadors in each other's countries uh there is
05:49a very little dialogue minimal grant of visas a minimal trade relationship I will probably go back
05:56to that sort of uh bristling hostility short of war but but if Pakistan feels that it has been too
06:06deeply wounded in its self-esteem and that they need uh to exact similar price in terms of bombing within
06:14India proper uh in order to prove that they can then I'm convinced India would retaliate again we're
06:20not going to let the Pakistanis think that they can spill Indian blood with impunity
06:26uh Shashi Tarur you're also a prominent opposition leader you're uh one of the key faces yeah you're one
06:37of the key faces of the congress party uh we've seen today at least complete solidarity from the opposition
06:44with the government uh you had said I recall earlier that questions of accountability for security lapses in
06:51pahal gaam these questions are left for a later day this is a moment to hit hard with action do you
06:58believe the debate therefore must focus now uh only on how do we deter restraint Pakistan uh cut down its
07:07terror factories the accountability question has to be left for a later date look I mean it's very very
07:14clear uh that if there is a quarrel inside the home that quarrel pauses when bandits break in and point
07:22guns at you then your focus is on getting those guns removed uh there will be time for a more detailed
07:29remaining I believe it's in the government's own interest uh to find out what went wrong how it was
07:34allowed to happen and indeed um there will be other aspects the government would want to analyze but but
07:40right now our job as as a nation is to stand united in the face of of this incredibly tragic uh attack
07:48on our own people the civilians and the continuing tensions uh accompanied now by the prime minister of
07:55Pakistan's threats to us this is not a time I know that there are already people talking about these
08:01Pakistani claims to have shot down Indian jets and so on I think all of these details I would rather wait
08:07to hear from the government officially at every stage what's going on so far I believe the government
08:13has handled matters very impressively I'm speaking personally by the way I'm not a spokesman of the
08:19party and even my statement about uh deferring demands for accountability till after the crisis
08:25were made in a personal capacity I must stress that because I don't want the the congress party to have to
08:30carry the can for anything I say but what I'm saying to you Radeep as a member of parliament
08:37is that I believe I speak for a large majority of the people I represent uh not just in my constituency
08:44but people who are in touch with me from throughout the country in saying that this is the kind of
08:48response that the Indian public wanted after the Helga we knew that the government was taking various
08:57diplomatic steps suspending India's waters treaty all of that stuff but that was never going to be enough
09:03there had to be something more kinetic something to show the terrorists that they just can't get away
09:10with this you know I mean it just had got to a point where the script that the Pakistani terrorists
09:17and the Pakistani uh deep state had followed has been so tiresomely predictable and so painful since 2000.
09:25uh at least 15 or 16 major attacks where more than 20 Indian civilians have been killed uh uh incidents
09:31in which time after time after time they do these things then they show a denial until of course proof
09:37is established and it really was them and at that point they go silent don't ever forget and I'm
09:43surprised we didn't even remind the world of this in the statement this morning that they are a country
09:48that claimed not to know where Osama bin Laden was until he was found hiding in a Pakistani military
09:54uh encampment uh in Abu Dhabar that's the kind of country Pakistan is we have to signal to the world
10:00we've had enough and we're not going to take anymore and I think this is what the public in India wants
10:06uh and and certainly it has been delivered with a great deal of maturity and restraint as I said it was
10:12a calibrated response let's see whether this is going to be seen by the rest of the world as fair
10:19you must know that France Russia and Israel are three countries that have accompanied their calls
10:25for uh restraint and de-escalation with public expressions of sympathy for India's uh an understanding
10:33for India's desire to respond to terrorist attacks so it's not that we are completely alone in the world on
10:39this Rajdeep you know I your comments are reassuring because you know it it national security does
10:50deserve a bipartisan consensus which has sometimes been missing in recent times even when the congress
10:56or the UPA was in power and Mumbai happened uh the BJP was then in the opposition and targeted the
11:02Manmohan Singh government uh and and uh in the past we've had uh people from your party targeting this
11:08government after Balakot asking for evidence after Uri asking for evidence it's much more reassuring
11:13this time to see our broad bipartisan consensus do you believe that will hold are you going to give
11:20the credit today to the armed forces to the Modi government when you say government has done an
11:25admirable job I ask you this because politics has got so polarized that discovering a bipartisan consensus
11:32on issues is becoming more and more difficult even on foreign policy and strategic affairs
11:36as I say speaking in a purely personal capacity I do congratulate all concerned the government the
11:43armed forces I mean even the manner in which the briefing was done this morning was very impressive
11:49having two women officers there one of whom was a Muslim woman officer to convey that this is nothing
11:54about Hindu Muslim India uh standing united all of this was very very well thought through somebody is
12:02using his brains in in her brains in putting all these signals out even the name operation sindoor such
12:09an evocative emotive name uh well chosen I have absolutely no criticism to offer about any of this
12:16rajd if it turns out that we have uh suffered the losses pakistan claims there will be time to find out
12:22why and what went wrong but as far as I'm concerned right now I'm standing with the government under the flag
12:32what happens Sashping Tharoor for speaking so clearly and lucidly as ever uh I appreciate you joining
12:39me here on India today. Thank you so much. Thank you, Raj.