'No talks with gun pointed at our head': Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on dialogue with Pakistan

Shashi Tharoor

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, currently leading an all-party delegation to the US, said that there is no possibility of talks with with Pakistan with "a gun pointed at our head" and that action can be taken again if Islamabad does not control terror elements.

The Congress leaders made these remarks during an interaction session at the National Press Club in the US.

"I think the US has understood for some time now that India has a very clear position that there will be no talks with a gun pointed at our head. It's not that we can't talk to Pakistan. I was joking the other day, we can speak all the languages they can speak and we're very happy to dialogue with them in any of those languages," he said when questioned about the US' role in encouraging talks between India and Pakistan.

"The problem is we will not dialogue with people who are pointing a gun at our heads. I mean, frankly, if your neighbour unleashes his Rottweilers to bite your children and in fact to do worse to your children and then says let's talk. You think he's going to talk to them until he either unleashes those Rottweilers or locks them up in a kennel or puts them to sleep? It's as simple as that. You're not going to talk to people who are pointing guns at your temples. It's not going to happen," he added.

Additionally, the Thiruvananthapuram MP highlighted that the all-party delegation is there to clarify India's stance and explain if there are any misapprehensions on the part of interlocutors.

"We aren't really here to negotiate outcomes. That's the job of the government. Our job is to enhance understanding, to clarify our position and to explain if there are any questions or misapprehensions on the part of our interlocutors, we'd be very happy to address them. There wasn't a specific seek on our part beyond that. It's not that we've come here saying, would you do this for us? That's not what this is all about and that's true by the way every country we've been to," he said when enquired about what India expects this visit in terms of US action with regards to Pakistan.

Tharoor also said that if Pakistan can keep doing this, we are not going to be held back and retaliate again.

"We're just saying, this is our position, we want you to understand, and if you have any questions, we'll answer them, but that's it. We're not asking them to do anything other than to understand our point of view, to express their solidarity and to stand with us if it happens again. I mean, we have no illusions. These buildings we've destroyed and the terror camps can be built again in six months, nine months, who knows? The problem is, if they think they can keep doing this to us, they've got another thing coming because we are not going to take it. If they hit us, we will hit them back. And we want the world to understand not only what just happened, but what could happen again if Pakistan does not control these elements on its soil," he said.