India wonât take first step to normalise ties, onus on Pakistan: Shashi Tharoor
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
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 (August 19, 2025), urging Islamabad to demonstrate sincerity by dismantling terror networks operating from its soil. He was speaking at the launch of the book âWhither India-Pakistan Relations Today?â, an anthology edited by former Ambassador Surendra Kumar. Delivered the keynote address before a galaxy of foreign policy eminences, including 101-year-old former Foreign Secretary MK Rasgotra, alongside former FS @KanwalSibal, Gen Deepak Kapoor, two former High Commissioners to Pakistan @tcaraghavan & SharatSabharwal, & Prof⌠pic.twitter.com/DPtIE9RMo4 â Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) August 19, 2025 The Thiruvananthapuram MP said every Indian attempt at outreach â from Jawaharlal Nehruâs pact with Liaqat Ali Khan in 1950, to Atal Bihari Vajpayeeâs bus journey to Lahore in 1999, and Narendra Modiâs Lahore visit in 2015 â had been âbetrayedâ by hostility from across the border.
âGiven the record of Pakistani behaviour, the onus is on them. Theyâre the ones who have to take the first steps to show some sincerity about dismantling terror infrastructure on their soil,â Mr. Tharoor said. âWhy canât they be serious about shutting down these terror camps? Everyone knows where they are. The United Nations committee has a list of 52 names of individuals, organisations and places in Pakistan. Itâs not that Pakistan doesnât know they exist,â he said. He said, âShut them down, arrest some of these characters, show some serious intent.â India would be more than willing to reciprocate once such action is taken, but wonât take the first step now, the Congress leader said. Opinion | Pakistanâs India war Recalling the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, Mr. Tharoor said India had provided âoverwhelming evidenceâ of Pakistani involvement, including live intercepts and dossiers, yet ânot one mastermind has been prosecutedâ.
He noted that New Delhi showed âextraordinary restraintâ after attacks, but subsequent provocations left India with little choice, leading to surgical strikes in 2016 and âOperation Sindoorâ. âIn 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,â he said. âAnd 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,â he explained. Opinion | The hazards of going global on India-Pakistan issues Tharoor also stressed that âpeace and tranquillity on the borders is indispensable to our national interestâ and cited the reconciliation between France and Germany after World War II, as well as the United Statesâ eventual ties with Vietnam, as examples of adversaries turning into partners.
