‘Very difficult' to take Pakistani denial on terrorism seriously
Pakistan's denial that it sponsors terrorism in South Asia cannot be taken seriously, Indian member of parliament Shashi Tharoor has said.
In an exclusive interview with RT's Rick Sanchez on Tuesday, Tharoor, who is also the head of the Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs, said Islamabad continues to provide a safe haven for terrorists in its largest province and allows them to freely operate camps for weapons training. Since the end of the Cold War, Pakistan had made 'too many denials' about their involvement in terrorism, Tharoor said.
'Ever since the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan there were a lot of unemployed radicals around whom the Pakistanis decided to turn on us on the one side, and later on Afghanistan,' he told Sanchez. 'The truth of the matter is the ones who have turned against us were trained, armed, equipped, financed, guided from Pakistan.'
The Indian MP mentioned the example of the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai, where he said American and European intelligence recorded the 'chilling voice' of a Pakistani handler giving 'minute-by-minute, blow-by-blow' directions to the killers. 'It is very difficult for us to take Pakistani denials seriously,' Tharoor said.
The lawmaker's comments come almost six weeks after the two South Asian nations were involved in a four-day military confrontation. Tharoor told Sanchez the conflict in May was about 'India versus terrorism,' and that New Delhi initially did not hit military, government, or civilian targets in Pakistan, but only attacked suspected terror facilities. He added that a country that gets hit by terror has to hit back.
Earlier this month, Sharoor headed a delegation to the Americas as part of an outreach in which New Delhi sent seven teams to over 30 countries to counter what it perceived as poor media coverage regarding the confrontation with Islamabad.
Addressing the National Press Club in Washington DC, Tharoor emphasized that India was not opposed to talking to Pakistan, but it refused to do so under duress. Tharoor told RT during his interview on Tuesday that de-escalation efforts in the Israel-Iran conflict seemed to be working. 'If we can have the ceasefire hold, we can all wake up tomorrow morning and find that Israel has now announced that it is reopening flights to Tel Aviv and that there's peace in Tehran, then I think that people will be grateful.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Russia Today
a day ago
- Russia Today
Pakistani soldiers killed in suicide attack
A suicide bomber has rammed a vehicle packed with explosives into a military convoy in the North Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. No group has taken responsibility so far, but the area has experienced frequent violence and attacks by a terrorist organization previously linked to the Taliban. The attack on Saturday killed 13 soldiers and injured 29 people, including ten army personnel and 19 civilians, an unnamed local official told AFP. According to a local police officer, the roofs of two houses collapsed due to the explosion, injuring six children. This suicide bombing comes amid an increase in militant assaults across Pakistan. Senior military and political leaders have attributed the increase in violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants conducting cross-border attacks from Afghanistan. They allege that Kabul is providing shelter and support to these militants, a claim that the Afghan authorities have denied. Earlier in June, TTP terrorists killed a policeman in the Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. When the militants attempted to escape, local residents and security forces chased after them, resulting in one being killed during a shootout, according to police. According to the Global Terrorist Index, TTP was among four terrorist groups responsible for the most deaths last year. Deaths attributed to TTP nearly doubled from 2023 to 2024.
Russia Today
2 days ago
- Russia Today
‘One-sided game' in relations with West has ended
Russia will no longer play 'one-sided' games with the West, President Vladimir Putin has told journalists on the sidelines of the summit of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in Minsk. Western nations have repeatedly betrayed Russia by not fulfilling their promises related to NATO expansion and resolving the Ukraine conflict, he stated at a press conference on Friday. NATO is currently justifying its planned defense spending hike to 5% of its members' GDP and military buildup in Europe by pointing to Russia's 'aggressiveness,' Putin said, adding that the bloc's members are 'turning everything upside down' when they make statements such as these. 'No one is saying a word about how we've come up to the Russian special military operation,' the president said, adding that the roots of the Ukraine conflict go back decades when Moscow was 'blatantly lied to' about NATO expansion. 'What followed was one expansion wave after another,' he stated. Russia's security concerns about the bloc's activities have been consistently ignored and met with silence, according to Putin. 'Isn't it aggressive behavior? That is precisely aggressive behavior, which the West does not want to pay attention to.' According to the president, Western nations have supported separatism and even terrorism as long as it is directed against Russia. Terrorist groups were outright ignored if they acted on Russian territory, he claimed. 'Everything was good as long as it was against Russia. Haven't we seen this? They [the West] saw it as well. Yet, they only talk about our aggressiveness.' We are not aggressive. The Collective West is. The president's words came just days after the NATO summit in The Hague, where the bloc's members made a commitment to hike defense spending to 5% of GDP annually by 2035. The decision was made 'in the face of profound security threats and challenges, in particular the long-term threat posed by Russia to Euro-Atlantic security,' the summit's statement said. Russia has said it considers NATO expansion towards its borders to be a major national security threat, and cited Kiev's ambitions to join the US-led bloc among the key reasons that led to the conflict between Moscow and Kiev.
Russia Today
2 days ago
- Russia Today
Russia and Malaysia to boost nuclear cooperation
Russia and Malaysia have agreed to expand cooperation on the peaceful use of nuclear energy, state nuclear corporation Rosatom announced, following high-level talks in Moscow on Friday. The meeting was attended by Rosatom CEO Aleksey Likhachev and Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Fadillah Yusof. The discussions focused on the use of Rosatom's Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) technologies, according to a Rosatom press release. 'We value our collaboration and aim for a long-term strategic partnership based on mutual trust and shared objectives,' Fadillah, who is also Malaysia's Energy Transition and Water Transformation Minister, stated at the meeting. Likhachev said Malaysia is interested in Russian floating nuclear power stations, following Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's visit to Russia last month. 'We offered [Malaysia] the entire spectrum: large and small stations, both land-based and floating. For various reasons, the Malaysians are choosing floating nuclear power plants with a capacity of 100 MW each,' he told Izvestia news outlet. 'They can be created here in Russia and brought there fully operational.' During their current visit, the Malaysian delegation toured the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant in St. Petersburg, one of Rosatom's largest facilities, to observe Russia's latest nuclear technologies and safety standards. They also visited the ATOM Pavilion at Moscow's VDNKh – the country's key nuclear science education hub, featuring more than 1,700 interactive exhibits. Fadillah called the experience 'eye-opening,' praising the pavilion as both a display of innovation and a center of historical awareness. 'This visit reinforced my belief that technology, when guided by knowledge, values and responsibility, can be a powerful driver for a future that is sustainable, innovative and globally competitive,' he wrote in a post on social media. During his 5-day visit, Fadillah also held a bilateral meeting in Moscow with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksey Overchuk.
