Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, heading the all-party delegation on Operation Sindoor, has described the military action as India’s necessary and justified response to the “brutal terror attack” in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. Speaking at an event hosted for the Indian community in Panama City on Tuesday, Tharoor recounted the trauma endured by women widowed by the attack.
“Some women cried out ‘The terrorists killed me too,’ and they said, ‘No, go back, tell what happened to you’,” Tharoor said. “We heard, we heard their cries and India decided that the colour of the sindoor, the vermilion colour on the forehead of our women, will also match the colour of the blood of the killers, the perpetrators, the attackers...”
Tharoor underlined that Operation Sindoor was a direct consequence of the massacre in Pahalgam, reinforcing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stated intent. “Our Prime Minister has made it very clear Operation Sindoor was necessary because these terrorists came and wiped the sindoor off the foreheads of 26 women by depriving them of their husbands and fathers, their married lives,” he added.
The multi-party delegation, which comprises Members of Parliament Sarfaraz Ahmed, G M Harish Balayogi, Shashank Mani Tripathi, Tejasvi Surya, Bhubaneswar Kalita, Mallikarjun Devda, Milind Deora, and former Indian Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, is currently on a three-day official visit to Panama following their outreach programme in Guyana.
‘We waited for Pakistan’
In an address to Panama Assembly President Dana Castaneda and several MPs, Tharoor made it clear that India launched Operation Sindoor only after giving Pakistan a window to act against the perpetrators of the April 22 Pahalgam attack.
“When nothing was clearly being done, two weeks later, on the 7th of May, we attacked the known headquarters of terrorist bases inside Pakistan. We had no interest in starting a war, but we felt that a terrorist act must not go unpunished,” he said.
He explained the bipartisan nature of the delegation, saying, “We all come from different political backgrounds and different parts of India, but we are united in national purpose.” Tharoor stressed that the scourge of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism was far from over. “And if there is another terrorist incident tomorrow, we believe that we will not have to come back here; we will have your understanding in advance,” he said.
‘Help us prosecute the criminals’
Urging international cooperation, Tharoor appealed to Panama to help India pressure the perpetrators. “It is just not acceptable for us to continue to bear the pain, the grief, the wounds, the losses and then merely go and tell the international community, look what is happening to us. Please help us. Please put pressure on the perpetrators to actually identify and prosecute the criminals,” he said while addressing a gathering at the Indian embassy.
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Highlighting India’s long and painful history with terrorism, Tharoor reminded the audience that the country has faced such attacks since 1989.
‘Not giving up Kashmir’
The Congress MP said Pakistan and the terrorists it shelters have targeted India repeatedly over their clai to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
“Unfortunately, our desire to just be left alone is not reciprocated by our friends on the other side of the border. They have chosen repeatedly to attack us because they believe that they want territory which they do not control, which we control,” he said.
“It is part of the sovereign borders of the United Indian, and we are not going to give it to them even if we have to pay the price that we have repeatedly been paid,” Tharoor asserted.
‘Let there be no doubt’
Warning future perpetrators, Tharoor sent a strong message: “Let there be no doubt.” He cited India’s breaches of the Line of Control (LoC) and international border during past counterterrorism operations, including the 2016 Uri strike and the 2019 retaliation post-Pulwama, as proof of New Delhi’s resolve.
“This time, we crossed not only the Line of Control but also the international border, and we struck the terrorist headquarters in Balakot. This time, we have gone beyond both of those. We have not only gone beyond the Line of Control and the international border. We have struck at the Punjabi heartland of Pakistan by hitting terror bases, training centres, terror headquarters in nine places,” he noted.
Panama expresses solidarity
Panama Assembly President Dana Castaneda responded affirmatively to India’s call for international solidarity. “Panama wants to stand with India in this campaign for peace, and we hope that we can defeat terrorism. We have spoken about these issues in detail, and this will help us understand each other better in India’s fight against terrorism,” Castaneda said.
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