'You don't ask a murderer...': Tharoor on Pak's offer for 'neutral probe' into Pahalgam

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has strongly reacted to Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif’s statement regarding a ‘neutral investitation’ into the Pahalgam terror attack, saying “you do not ask a murderer to investigate his own murders”.

“Personally, I would have had no interest in Pakistan's participation in any investigation. You do not ask a murderer to investigate his own murders,” said Tharoor while talking to news agency ANI on Sunday. He said the nation has been demanding military action against Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack, and some visible military response is unavoidable.

Long pattern

Terming it a "long pattern" seen over a quarter century, the former diplomat said that Pakistan always denies responsibility for terror attacks in India despite training and arming terrorists across the border.

Also read: TRF statement on Pahalgam attack uploaded from Pakistan: Sources

“I think it's very clear that there is a pattern. People are encouraged, trained, armed, and often guided from across the border. Then Pakistan denies all responsibility. Eventually, responsibility is established and proven, including by foreign intelligence agencies,” he said.

Tharoor pointed out there was retaliation from the Indian side after the 2016 Uri attacks and 2019 Pulwama attacks, and suggested that this time, Pakistan might face a stricter response from India. “It is clear that while we have a range of options - diplomatic, economic, intelligence sharing, covert, and overt action. Some sort of visible military response is unavoidable," said the MP from Thiruvananthapuram.

Inflammatory rhetoric

Tharoor also responded to PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s “blood with flow” remark over India suspending the Indus Water Treaty.

“This is just inflammatory rhetoric. Pakistanis must understand they simply cannot kill Indians with impunity. We don't want to do anything to Pakistanis. But if they do something to us, then be prepared for a response. If blood is going to flow, it will flow possibly more on their side than ours,” said Tharoor.

Intelligence failure

Talking about the intelligence failure in Pahalgam terror attack, the Congress leader said, “Obviously, there was no full proof intelligence. There was some failure... But we have got the example of Israel, the world's best intelligence services according to everybody, which were taken by surprise on October 7, just two years ago. It seems to me, just as Israel is waiting till the end of the war before they demand accountability, similarly, I think we too should see the present crisis through and then demand accountability from the government.”

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“No country can ever have a foolproof 100% intelligence. We will never know about the various terror attacks that were successfully thwarted. We only get to know about the ones that we failed to thwart. This is normal in any nation. There were failures, I agree, but that should not be our main focus right now,” he added.