New Delhi: Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, who is leading the Indian delegation for global diplomatic outreach, on Friday raised questions in Bogotá over the Colombian government’s stance during India-Pakistan tension, The Indian Express reported.
Citing Colombia’s offering of ‘heartfelt condolences over the loss of lives in Pakistan’ following India’s Operation Sindoor, Tharoor said ‘no equivalence’ was possible between those who ‘dispatch terrorists and those who resist them’.
‘Colombian government, which apparently expressed heartfelt condolences on the loss of lives in Pakistan after the Indian strikes, rather than sympathising with the victims of terrorism. We will say to our friends in Colombia, there can be no equivalance between those who dispatch terrorists and those who resist them,’ Tharoor was quoted as saying.
Tharoor made it clear that India was ‘exercising our right of self-defence’ , adding that the delegation was there to ‘dispel’ any misunderstanding over it.
The delegation that Shashi Tharoor leads has leaders across parties including Shambhavi Chaudhary (Lok Janshakti Party), Sarfaraz Ahmed (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha), G M Harish Balayagi (Telugu Desam Party), Shashank Mani Tripathi, Tejaswi Surya, Bhubaneswar Kalita (BJP), Mallikarjun Devda (Shiv Sena), former Indian Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, and Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora.
Responding to a question about Pakistan’s defence equipment at the conference, Tharoor said China supplies 81 per cent of Pakistan’s defence equipment, adding that ‘Much of it is not for defence but for attack’. Tharoor pointed out that the fight is against terror targeting India.
Over the last few days, Tharoor has been critcised within his party for praising India’s military response to terrorism in the past years.