New Delhi: In a surprising moment, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor was caught off guard when his son, Ishaan Tharoor, a Washington Post journalist, asked him a probing question at a foreign policy event filled with journalists, diplomats, and experts.
Hearing his son’s voice from the crowd, Tharoor laughed and said, “That shouldn’t be allowed. This is my son.” Ishaan introduced himself and joked he was asking “mostly to say hi” before Tharoor’s next engagement, then posed a pointed question: Had any country asked India for evidence of Pakistan’s involvement in the Pahalgam attack, given Pakistan’s denials?
Tharoor responded warmly but firmly: “I didn’t plant it, I promise you. This guy does this to his dad.” He said no foreign government had questioned India’s claims, though a few media outlets had. “India would not have done this without convincing evidence,” he emphasized, pointing to decades of terror attacks linked to Pakistan, all met with routine denials—including the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and Osama bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad.
There are no terror organisations based in India: Tharoor
He contrasted India and Pakistan’s conduct, saying India targeted terror bases, while Pakistan retaliated by hitting civilians. “There are no terror organisations based in India listed by the UN or the U.S. State Department,” he added.
On China’s military support to Pakistan, Tharoor said India responded effectively despite Beijing’s technology being used. “We did things differently. Otherwise, we couldn’t have hit 11 airfields,” he noted. He acknowledged China’s deep investment in Pakistan through the Belt and Road Initiative but said India had “no illusions” about the strategic alliance.
Conflict was a distraction to India
Tharoor concluded by describing the conflict as a “distraction” for India but “fundamental” to Pakistan’s military identity. He quipped about a Pakistani general’s self-promotion: “There was a lot of chuckling in Delhi when the failed general became a field marshal by giving himself an extra star.”
