'We hit hard but smart': Shashi Tharoor backs India’s strikes under Operation Sindoor, calls for global unity on terror

Sitting before a packed gathering at the Indian Consulate in New York, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who is currently leading India’s anti-terrorism outreach, voiced strong support for the country’s targeted military action against terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Tharoor said India’s response under Operation Sindoor was calibrated and precise, in line with the country’s evolving doctrine on terrorism.

“We hit hard but hit smart,” Tharoor said, referring to the May 7 strikes that targeted nine specific terrorist launchpads and headquarters following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam. The attack had left 26 civilians dead and was claimed by The Resistance Front, a known proxy of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba group.

Tharoor made it clear that the Indian government and the opposition were united in the fight against terrorism. “Perpetrators of terror must be brought to justice. We are not going to stop our hunt for those who did this latest atrocity (Pahalgam terror attack). We need to think about where these people are trained, guided, and financed,” he said, directly pointing to Pakistan’s repeated denials of hosting terror networks.

Recalling earlier efforts at diplomacy, Tharoor cited the 2016 Pathankot airbase attack, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited Pakistani officials to join the investigation. 

“Imagine the horror of the Indian military establishment with this idea that Pakistani investigators would come to an Indian airbase. But they came and they went back to Pakistan and said all the Indians did it to themselves. That was the last opportunity for them to behave,” Tharoor said.

“This marks a new norm,” he said, pointing out that India had exhausted every diplomatic option before shifting its strategy. “We’ve tried that. We are determined now that there’s got to be a new bottom line to this. We’ve done the dossiers, the complaints, the international hand-wringing... We’ve made it very clear that we’ve had enough.” Pakistan has remained in denial, there has been absolutely no conviction, no serious criminal prosecution, no attempt to dismantle the terror infrastructure in that country, and the persistence of safe havens… you (Pakistan) do this, you are going to get this back and we have demonstrated with this Operation that we can do it with a degree of precision,” he said.

Tharoor described the Pahalgam killings as a calculated attempt to destabilise peace and harmony in Jammu and Kashmir. “Some people decided that they would want to attack that process of normalisation (in J&K), secondly to undermine the narrative, as well as the prosperity of the people of Kashmir. Third, by doing so in an atrocious manner, that is, it was not just a terrorist attack of somebody incriminating on people with a bomb. It was a bunch of people going around identifying the religions of the people before them and killing them on that basis. It was clearly intended to provoke a backlash in the rest of the country, since the victims were overwhelmingly Hindu,” he said.

“The message was very clear that there was a malign intent… India, sadly, had no reason to doubt where it came from,” he added.

The delegation began their visit with a solemn stop at the 9/11 Memorial — a move that Tharoor said was “symbolically important” to reflect on the shared pain of terrorism. “It was a very moving moment,” he said, highlighting how global solidarity against terror must remain strong. “We went there as a reminder that India too has suffered deeply, and we stand with every nation that believes in peace.”

Operation Sindoor is part of India’s multi-pronged push to build diplomatic consensus on terrorism while also asserting its right to respond with force. Tharoor’s comments, though in line with India’s position, were significant for another reason — they went beyond party lines at a time when domestic politics is deeply polarised.

“We are travelling to 5 countries, we will be back in the US at the end of our journey. We are hoping to be able to explain to the world how important it is for all of us to stand together against this scourge of terrorism. We want to communicate to the world that we won’t be sitting quietly if this is repeated and we want the world to understand that this is not a time for indifference but for mutual strength and mutual solidarity,” he said.

To conclude, Tharoor left the audience with a reminder of India’s core values. “Our diversity is our strength. We may disagree at home — that’s democracy. But when we’re here, representing 1.4 billion Indians, we speak as one.”