Every Indian outreach faced betrayal, onus now on Pakistan to normalise ties: Shashi Tharoor

Shashi Tharoor

Urging Islamabad to demonstrate sincerity by dismantling terror networks operating from its soil, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday said India no longer has the appetite to take the first step in normalising ties with Pakistan after repeated betrayals.

Tharoor was speaking at the launch of the book "Whither India-Pakistan Relations Today?", an anthology edited by former ambassador Surendra Kumar.

Outlining the past attempts by New Delhi, the Thiruvananthapuram MP said every Indian attempt at outreach -- from Jawaharlal Nehru's pact with Liaqat Ali Khan in 1950, to Atal Bihari Vajpayee's bus journey to Lahore in 1999, and Narendra Modi's Lahore visit in 2015 -- had been "betrayed" by hostility from across the border.

"Given the record of Pakistani behaviour, the onus is on them. They're the ones who have to take the first steps to show some sincerity about dismantling terror infrastructure on their soil.

"Why can't they be serious about shutting down these terror camps? Everyone knows where they are. The UN committee has a list of 52 names of individuals, organisations and places in Pakistan. It's not that Pakistan doesn't know they exist," Tharoor said.

Recalling the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, Tharoor said India had provided "overwhelming evidence" of Pakistani involvement, including live intercepts and dossiers, yet "not one mastermind has been prosecuted".

He noted that New Delhi showed "extraordinary restraint" after attacks, but subsequent provocations left India with little choice, leading to surgical strikes in 2016 and 'Operation Sindoor'.

"In 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.