Shashi Tharoor in Panama said, “When we struck the terror headquarters, we took some lives and of course a funeral was conducted. There were some very prominent people at that funeral.”
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor-led delegation met with President of the Republic of Panama Jose Raul Mulino at the Presidential house. The meeting with Panamanian President comes as part of India’s efforts to convey its resolute stance against Pakistan sponsored terrorism.
While addressing a gathering in Panama, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said the land of Mahatma Gandhi will not turn the other cheek when terror attacks happen, we will respond.”
“We must always stand up in principle for the values we believe in, and we must live without fear that freedom from fear is what we in India have to fight for these days against the evil attacks of malign men who are called by the world as terrorists, but who believe that by doing this kind of thing of coming into our country, killing innocent people and going off again that they will somehow achieve some larger political or religious cause as you can imagine, that is not something that any self-respecting country will give into, and even the land of Mahatma Gandhi will not turn the other cheek when this happens, we will respond,” Shashi Tharoor said.
He said, “We believe that when Panama join in the United Nations Security Council statement, that said – it is not just enough to catch the perpetrators of such crimes, but one must also hold accountable the countries that provide them safe haven and support and finance. I think the message should have gone very, very clearly to our neighbour; that is a message the world stands behind…”
Shashi Tharoor added that, “When we struck the terror headquarters, we took some lives and of course a funeral was conducted. There were some very prominent people at that funeral. There was at least one individual whose name had been listed by the United Nations Sanctions Committee. It was people in uniform from the highest threat echelons of the Pakistani Army and police mourning at the funeral of designated terrorists. This is the country that now says we are innocent. We did not do it. You do not mourn for people you do not know.”
He said that the terrorist action was in pursuance of a cynical set of objectives that sadly only the Pakistani military seems to want to pursue to undermine our country, to undermine the Kashmiri economy, which was booming with tourism. “I was told by my friend, the Indian Ambassador to Washington, that there were more tourists in this place in Kashmir in Pahalgam than in Aspen, Colorado,” he said.
Tharoor also said that, “We believe that when Panama join in the United Nations Security Council statement, that said – it is not just enough to catch the perpetrators of such crimes, but one must also hold accountable the countries that provide them safe haven and support and finance. I think the message should have gone very, very clearly to our neighbour; that is a message the world stands behind…”
Earlier in the day, the delegation met with Panamanian Foreign Minister Javier Martinez Acha and showed them pictures of Pakistani Army officials attending the funeral of UN-designated terrorists who were killed in Operation Sindoor.
Speaking to ANI after the meeting, Panamanian Foreign Minister Acha extended the country’s support to India in its fight against terrorism and said, “We cannot tolerate countries sponsoring terrorism.”
“Regarding terrorism, we stand with India. We cannot tolerate any kind of terrorism. We cannot tolerate countries sponsoring terrorism. We are a democratic country. India is the largest democracy in the world, which values principles, and we will fight against any kind of terrorism together,” Javier Martinez Acha said.
Additionally, Shahi Tharoor said that the Foreign Minister was very receptive and open-hearted in India’s fight against terrorism. Tharoor also highlighted that a number of topics regarding India’s collaboration with Panama, particularly in fields of technology, education, and pharmaceuticals, were also discussed.
“The Minister received our message on terrorism in a very receptive and open-hearted way. In addition, he raised a number of opportunities for close India-Panama collaboration in the future, particularly in technology, education, pharmaceuticals, and many areas of future cooperation, which shows the commitment of the Minister and his government to closer relations between our countries. So from both grounds, both in terms of our message on terrorism, on the larger picture of our cooperation with Panama, it’s been a very successful meeting,” Tharoor said.
The delegation led by Tharoor includes Shambhavi Chaudhary (Lok Janshakti Party), Sarfaraz Ahmed (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha), G M Harish Balayagi (Telugu Desam Party), Shashank Mani Tripathi, Tejaswi Surya, Bhubaneswar Kalita (all from BJP), Mallikarjun Devda (Shiv Sena), former Indian Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, and Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora.
