Mediation implies equivalence between terrorists, victims: Shashi Tharoor in US

A multi-party parliamentary delegation from India, led by senior Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor, met US Vice President JD Vance on Thursday for a wide-ranging discussion covering the Pahalgam terror attacks and India's stand on terrorism. The meeting comes amid recent calls for mediation between India and Pakistan by US President Donald Trump, followed by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urging Washington to facilitate a comprehensive dialogue between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

Addressing the issue during his meeting with JD Vance, Tharoor firmly rejected any notion of equivalence between India and Pakistan, stating that there can be no mediation between terrorists and their victims. He added that US Vice President clearly understood India's position, which has been acknowledged across various levels of the US administration.

"The main point is that mediation implies an equivalence between two parties, and there can be no equivalence between terrorists and their victims," Tharoor stated, adding that, "Vice President Vance fully understood our points. The message has been clearly received at multiple levels of the US administration."

Speaking to the press following the high-level engagement, Tharoor described the meeting as "outstanding" and "very clear," emphasising that the Indian side had firmly conveyed its position on recent regional developments, including the Pahalgam terror attack and India’s military response through Operation Sindoor.

The meeting marked the culmination of a two-week diplomatic outreach effort by the Indian delegation across multiple countries. Tharoor, who led Group 5 of India’s all-party delegation, called the five-day visit to the US a "real success." The US visit of the Tharoor's delegation was part of a broader diplomatic push that included stops in Guyana, Panama, Colombia and Brazil.

"We acquitted ourselves rather well," he said, crediting Indian embassies for facilitating impactful meetings with top government officials, lawmakers, think tanks, and diaspora communities.

According to Tharoor, two primary goals defined the delegation's efforts - explaining the necessity and context behind Operation Sindoor and reinforcing bilateral relations with the countries visited.

"At the end of the day, two satisfactions. One, I believe we got our message across about what happened in Pahalgam and about Operation Sindoor and why it was necessary. Secondly, we used the opportunity to reaffirm the importance of relations with India with each of these countries," Tharoor said.

The delegation included MPs across party lines, such as Sarfaraz Ahmad, Ganti Harish Madhur Balayogi, Shashank Mani Tripathi, Bhubaneswar Kalita, Milind Deora, Tejasvi Surya and India’s former ambassador to the US Taranjit Sandhu.

Pak delegation in US

Tharoor also commented on a concurrent visit to the US by a Pakistani delegation led by former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, which includes several prominent political figures, including former Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, former Information Minister Sherry Rehman, former Defence Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan, and former Foreign Secretaries Jalil Abbas Jilani and Tehmina Janjua.

“We’ve seen some of them tweeting about their meetings,” Tharoor remarked. “We've not seen the people they met saying anything very supportive or appreciative of Pakistan in public.”

He asserted that the Indian delegation’s engagement was both more substantial and more consequential. "We weren't bothered. We had more important and more appointments than they did. Whether it was Senators and Congressmen on the Hill, whether it was officials of the government, our list of appointments is far, far better than theirs.”

He dismissed Pakistan's counter-narratives, saying: “At the moment, we have very much got the better of the argument because when Pakistan says we're innocent, India is the aggressor, we have given arguments why that is not the case. When Pakistan says we are also victims of terrorism, we have pointed out where the terrorism was incubated in the first place. I don't think we need to worry about these Pakistani arguments.”

Additionally, while addressing questions on intra-party statements and speculations in Indian media, Tharoor refrained from wading into domestic controversies while abroad. "There'll be a time for internal discussions when one gets back. I'm not anticipating anything because I've not been told anything directly. All I see is in the media, some of which is speculative," he said.

“But on the whole, my view is that we are facing a situation where the country is united. And that unity was very apparent in the delegation,” Tharoor added.

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