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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who led a multi-party delegation to the US and four other countries to convey India’s stand following Operation Sindoor, on Tuesday said his delegation had “good results” everywhere with “very high-quality meetings” and there was a complete understanding for the Indian position.
He also said that it was made clear to the US and other nations, with whom the delegation met, that India does not like talks of mediation in its issues with Pakistan.
Tharoor, who returned after his five-nation tour this evening, said from the government’s perspective, the purpose of sending MPs both demonstrates the unity of India across political lines and at the same time to deliver an effective message to government officials, legislators, think tanks, opinion makers, media and the diaspora abroad.
“All of this was very thoroughly fulfilled,” he told reporters at the airport here.
“I think it was a very good visit. We were all very pleased with the way all the five countries we went to received us. We thought we had good results everywhere.
“We had very high-quality meetings — presidents, PMs, vice presidents, very senior interlocutors,” the Congress leader said.
Giving an example, Tharoor said that Colombia, which had earlier extended its support to Pakistan, withdrew the same after meeting with the Indian delegation.
At the same time, there was complete understanding and support for the Indian position for why this whole thing had been triggered post-Pahalgam and what our reaction had to be, he said.
“In fact, many of the people we spoke to specifically expressed respect for the restraint we have shown in our reaction. I would say, we have come out of this extremely well,” Tharoor said.
“We have done what we were asked to do,” he said.
Tharoor said what he observed during his visit to the US is that Pakistan has no narrative left to present.
“Not only did everyone understand and accept our point of view, but even the responses from American lawmakers were strongly in our favour…Pakistan’s position is extremely weak. They claim they haven’t done anything and that India attacked them without provocation, but no one was willing to buy that argument,” he said.
“Then they try to portray themselves as victims of the same extremists. I told them, ‘… if you raise a snake in your house, don’t expect it to bite only your enemies’. That’s the message I conveyed to everyone,” he said.
On being asked about the alleged US mediation in ending the conflict between India and Pakistan, Tharoor said that he told Vice President J D Vance that “no one spoke to us about mediation”.
“I told them that you asked what would happen if Pakistan retaliates and we said that we will reply to that. We also said that if they stop what they are doing, so will we. So, if you (US) conveyed that message to them (Pakistan) and made them stop, then congratulations.
“But we never asked anyone to mediate in the matter, I told them,” he said.
The Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram also said that he told everyone including Vance that mediation is “an equivalence”.
“This is not an issue of two classmates fighting and the principal mediating to stop them. When terrorists come from one nation and kill tourists in another country, there is no equivalence. When one nation exercises its right of self defence against another country, there is no equivalence.”
“So, it became clear to them why India does not like the talks of mediation,” he said.
He further said that he will carry his personal report about the meetings when he goes to meet the PM.
The delegation, led by Tharoor, visited the US on the last leg of a multi-nation tour to brief key interlocutors about Operation Sindoor which India launched in retaliation to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack which claimed 26 lives.
The delegation was one of the seven multi-party delegations India had tasked to visit 33 global capitals to reach out to the international community to emphasise Pakistan’s links to terrorism.
The group arrived in the US capital on June 3 and over the course of three days held a wide array of meetings on Capitol Hill as well as in Washington, briefing American government officials as well as lawmakers about India’s stance on cross-border terrorism.
The team had earlier travelled to Guyana, Panama, Colombia and Brazil before arriving in Washington for the last leg of the tour.
The other members of the delegation were Sarfaraz Ahmad (JMM), Ganti Harish Madhur Balayogi (TDP), Shashank Mani Tripathi (BJP), Bhubaneswar Kalita (BJP), Milind Deora (Shiv Sena), Tejasvi Surya (BJP) and India’s former Ambassador to the US Taranjit Sandhu.
Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated after the Pahalgam terror attack, with India carrying out precision strikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on May 7.
The on-ground hostilities from the Indian and Pakistan sides that lasted for four days ended with an understanding of stopping the military actions following talks between the directors general of military operations of both sides on May 10.(Agencies)
