‘Shouldn’t be allowed; does this to his dad’: Shashi Tharoor quips after his journalist son asks question on Op Sindoor

In a media interaction during India’s diplomatic outreach in Washington DC, who should Congress MP Shashi Tharoor find but his own son, Ishaan Tharoor. He had to field a question by his journalist son, who not only wanted to ask him a pertinent question regarding the operation but also wanted to say “hi” to his father before he went on to his next assignment. 

“That shouldn’t be allowed, this is my son,” laughed Tharoor when his son picked up the mic to ask him a question. Following this, Ishaan Tharoor introduced himself too as he attended the interaction on behalf of The Washington Post. “Definitely asking the question in a personal capacity and mostly to say hi before you go off for your next engagement,” began Ishaan Tharoor, when the Congress MP gestured to him to raise it properly. He asked if any of the governments that the delegation met in the West asked them to provide evidence of Pakistan’s culpability in the initial attack (Pahalgam), and Pakistan’s persistence on not having any hand in the attack.

"I'm very glad you raised this. I didn't plant it, I promise you. This guy does this to his dad," said Tharoor. He said, “Very simply, no one had any doubts, we were not asked for any evidence. The media have asked and so you are speaking for your tribe. In two or three places, the media asked this question,” said Tharoor responding to his son’s question. 

"Let me say very clearly that India would not have done this without convincing evidence…but there are three particular reasons I want to draw your attention to,” said Tharoor. He said there has been a 37-year-old pattern of repeated terror attacks, followed by denials. He said Americans haven’t forgotten where Osama bin Laden was despite Pakistan feigning ignorance. Tharoor then cited the Mumbai attacks, where too Pakistan denied having any hand till one terrorist (Kasab) was found to be from Pakistan. 

"So we know what Pakistan's all about. They will dispatch terrorists, they will deny they did so until they're actually caught with red hands," he said. 

Tharoor said minutes after the Pahalgam attack, a group called The Resistance Front, claimed responsibility. They are, he said, a well-known front for Lashkar-e-Taiba, which enjoys safe haven in the town of Muridke in Pakistan. 

The Congress MP also cited the attendance of Pakistani generals and police officers in uniform in the funerals of terrorists from JeM and LeT, who were eliminated during Operation Sindoor.

Apart from these three reasons, Tharoor said, India also has intelligence services who were studying these terrorist attacks and identified four perpetrators, out of which two were Pakistanis and two were trained in Pakistan.

“India is not a country that would take military action without some very solid basis for doing so. This was not some random terror attack,” he said adding that India found 24 terrorist attacks emanating from Pakistan last year but none of which were meted with such a response. “This (Pahalgam attack) showed all the hallmarks of a sophisticated, planned, deliberate operation with reconnaissance, intelligence work with a modus operandi worked out…this cynical exercise of asking people their religion and shooting them between the eyes. This is not an ordinary terrorist or bearded fanatic blowing himself up outside a supermarket. This is a serious quasi-military-style operation and it required a military response,” he said.