India won’t take first step to normalise ties, onus on Pakistan: Tharoor

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said India won’t initiate normalisation with Pakistan after repeated betrayals, urging Islamabad to dismantle terror networks on its soil. He stressed India would reciprocate once Pakistan demonstrates genuine intent to curb terrorism.

New Delhi: India no longer has the appetite to take the first step in normalising ties with Pakistan after repeated betrayals, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said on Tuesday, urging Islamabad to demonstrate sincerity by dismantling terror networks operating from its soil.

He was speaking at the launch of the book “Whither India-Pakistan Relations Today?”, an anthology edited by former ambassador Surendra Kumar.

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The Thiruvananthapuram MP said every Indian attempt at outreach — from Jawaharlal Nehru’s pact with Liaqat Ali Khan in 1950, to Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s bus journey to Lahore in 1999, and Narendra Modi’s Lahore visit in 2015 — had been “betrayed” by hostility from across the border.

“Given the record of Pakistani behaviour, the onus is on them. They’re the ones who have to take the first steps to show some sincerity about dismantling terror infrastructure on their soil.

“Why can’t they be serious about shutting down these terror camps? Everyone knows where they are. The UN committee has a list of 52 names of individuals, organisations and places in Pakistan. It’s not that Pakistan doesn’t know they exist,” Tharoor said.

He said, “Shut them down, arrest some of these characters, show some serious intent.” India would be more than willing to reciprocate once such action is taken, but won’t take the first step now, the Congress leader said.

Recalling the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, Tharoor said India had provided “overwhelming evidence” of Pakistani involvement, including live intercepts and dossiers, yet “not one mastermind has been prosecuted”.

He noted that New Delhi showed “extraordinary restraint” after attacks, but subsequent provocations left India with little choice, leading to surgical strikes in 2016 and ‘Operation Sindoor’.

“In my book Pax Indica, which was published in 2012, I had warned that if there was ever another Mumbai-like attack of comparable impact, with clear evidence of Pakistani complicity, the restraint we had shown in 2008 might become impossible and all bets would be off.

“And indeed, that is exactly what happened. No democratic government, least of all in India with its long record of betrayals by Pakistan, could sit idle while its neighbour assaults its civilians and innocent holidaymakers with impunity,” he explained.

Tharoor also stressed that “peace and tranquillity on the borders is indispensable to our national interest”, and cited the reconciliation between France and Germany after World War II, as well as the United States’ eventual ties with Vietnam, as examples of adversaries turning into partners.

The discussion was also joined by former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal, former Indian ambassador to Pakistan T C A Raghavan, ex-Army chief general Deepak Kapoor and academician Amitabh Mattoo.