‘Terror will be met with a price’: Shashi Tharoor calls out Pakistan, mourns Pahalgam victims in emotional Panama address

Tharoor was part of a parliamentary delegation that called on the President of the Panama National Assembly, Dana Castaneda.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, late Tuesday night, strongly reaffirmed India’s resolve to respond to cross-border terrorism, stating that the era of restraint is over and that perpetrators will now face direct consequences.

Speaking in Panama City as part of New Delhi's all-party delegation, Tharoor was reflecting on India’s evolving security doctrine in the face of persistent terror threats.

“India’s response to terrorism has fundamentally changed,” Tharoor said, citing major retaliatory actions such as the surgical strikes after the Uri attack in September 2016 and the Balakot airstrikes following the Pulwama attack in February 2019.

“For the first time, we breached the Line of Control, and later even the international border, striking terror launch pads and headquarters deep inside Pakistani territory.”

“India has endured four decades of relentless terror,” Tharoor said. “But the message now is clear...those who strike at us will not go unpunished," he reiterated New Delhi's stance strongly.

The Thiruvananthapuram MP also noted that recent operations have gone even further, targeting key terror hubs “in the Punjabi heartland of Pakistan” across multiple locations

“Let there be no doubt.....terror will be met with a price,” he asserted.

Further underlining the continued threat posed by Pakistan-based terrorist groups, Tharoor lamented the lack of justice for victims of attacks such as the 26/11 Mumbai carnage.

“Western intelligence agencies had real-time recordings of handlers directing the terrorists during the Mumbai attacks. Yet, no one has been prosecuted, let alone convicted,” he remarked. “This is a global issue....terrorists trained in Pakistan have carried out attacks not just in India, but also in New York, London, and Madrid.”

Expressing India's frustration over international inaction, Tharoor said it was no longer enough to simply seek global sympathy.

“We cannot keep suffering and then appeal to the world. We must act, and we have acted.”

"...It is just not acceptable for us to continue to bear the pain, the grief, the wounds, the losses and then merely go and tell the international community, look what is happening to us. Please help us. Please put pressure on the perpetrators to actually identify and prosecute the criminals...", he further noted.

Calling out the lack of global action against terrorism, he questioned, "Not only India, but Western intelligence agencies had recordings of the chilling voice of the Pakistani cold-blooded handler giving daily minute-by-minute instructions to the killers in Mumbai. While the killings were going on, all the evidence was collected, and dossiers were established. What happened? Has a single person behind this outrage been prosecuted, let alone convicted?... There have been examples in the last 20 years of attacks in New York, in London, in Madrid, in so many different parts of the world, which have been blamed provably on Pakistani terrorists or terrorists trained in Pakistan and brought to these countries. This is the sad reality we are facing today."

The Congress MP also spoke emotionally about the long-standing human cost of terrorism, "Some women cried out... 'the terrorists killed me too,' and they said, 'No, go back, tell what happened to you", speaking about the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack which claimed the lives of 26 civilians,

"We heard, we heard their cries and India decided that the colour of the Sindoor, the vermilion colour on the forehead of our women, will also match the colour of the blood of the killers, the perpetrators, the attackers...", he added further.

Tharoor is leading Group 5 of the all-party parliamentary delegation that called on the President of the Panama National Assembly, Dana Castaneda.

During the meeting, Tharoor presented a Kashmiri shawl symbolising the grief from the recent Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed several civilian lives. Castaneda, in return, gifted a symbol representing Panama’s warrior spirit, expressing solidarity with India’s fight against terrorism.

After I presented her with a Kashmiri show, from the place where terror had struck, the President reciprocated with a warrior symbol, urging India to fight on with determination. Greeted her colleague Kathy Bhikhu, who was born in Gujarat! pic.twitter.com/Nsr4lckGIs

Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 27, 2025

"When we presented the President with a shawl from Kashmir, where the Pahalgam terror attack occurred, she in turn gave us a symbol of the warriors of Panama. She expressed hope that we would fight terror with the same strength. I thought that was an excellent message to leave the National Assembly with," Tharoor said after meeting Castaneda.

The delegation also joined members of the Indian diaspora at the Sociedad Hindostana de Panama to observe a moment of silence in memory of the Pahalgam victims.