NEW YORK, May 25 — Speaking at the Indian Consulate in New York on Saturday, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor lauded India’s calibrated military response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, asserting that Operation Sindoor sent a clear message against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.
Tharoor, who is part of an all-party delegation on a diplomatic outreach mission in the US following the military escalation with Pakistan, said, “I don’t work for the government… but I myself authored an op-ed saying the time had come to hit hard and hit smart — and that’s exactly what India did.”
The delegation includes JMM MP Sarfaraz Ahmad, BJP MPs Tejasvi Surya and Bhubaneswar Kalita, and TDP MP Ganti Harish Madhur.
Addressing the gathering, Tharoor stressed that the Pahalgam attack, which killed 26 people, mostly tourists, had failed in its intent to divide India. “There was an extraordinary amount of togetherness cutting across religious and other divides… India had no reason to doubt where the attack came from,” he said.
On Operation Sindoor, launched on May 7, Tharoor described the mission as “precise and calibrated,” targeting nine known terror bases in Pakistan and PoK, including Lashkar-e-Taiba’s Muridke base and Jaish-e-Mohammad’s headquarters in Bahawalpur.
“These were not random bombings — they were precise hits on the infrastructure of terror. The message was that we will respond, but without escalating into a prolonged war,” Tharoor added.
He said that India’s unified stand sent a powerful signal globally, reinforcing that terror will be met with strength and resolve.
