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.
The Congress MP pointed out that Operation Sindoor was so well calculated as it only targetted terrorists’ sites, well-known bases of organisations like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, which are on the proscribed list of the UN sanctions committee.
“Secondly, we did so at night. The message is very clear; we are not anxious to strike at a time when there might be a lot of civilians wandering around the streets. We want to avoid collateral damage. We are not interested in killing innocent people, unlike terrorists themselves,” Tharoor said.
Highlighting that India took great care to ensure that it does not strike any Pakistani military installations or government facilities, Tharoor said, “What was the reason for that? We are quite sure that these terrorists are systematically created, trained, financed and guided by the Pakistani military. We do not want to convey the impression that we itching for a war. Our job is to teach them a lesson and wash our hands.”
Further, Shashi Tharoor said the onus is now on Pakistan not to overreact.
“So now the world calls for restraint, we are not only restraining but also silent. We are not doing anything more. It is upon Pakistan not to overreact. But it has sadly reacted very cruelly with heavy artillery shelling on civilians in areas, but even there, we have confined ourselves to reacting in kind. The truth is that we have been responsible citizens of the world throughout the exercise,” he said.
“We are not putting our foot on the escalatory ladder. The ball is in Pakistan’s court. But we don’t have any terrorist bases in India. So they can only attack the army, civilians or the government of India. If they do that, we will give them absolute hell… Our people are fully alert and ready in the event of any Pakistani misadventure,” the Congress MP said.
Indian forces conducted the precise strikes on nine terror infrastructure sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir under Operation Sindoor on Wednesday.
The strikes were aimed at avenging the Pahalgam attack victims and eliminating key Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leaders and camps involved in planning attacks on Indian soil. (ANI)
