Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), April 27, 2025 (ANI): On the Pahalgam terror attack, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor 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. 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.”
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00:00After Pulwama, there was the Balakot airstrike.
00:03Now today I think we are going to see something more than that.
00:06You do not ask a murderer to investigate his own murders.
00:10The Pakistanis have to understand that they cannot kill Indians with impunity.
00:16But if you do something to us, then be prepared for a response.
00:19Blood is going to flow, I'm sorry to say it will flow, possibly more on their side than on ours.
00:24I did so when it happened, I was actually in Lakshadeep with a parliamentary committee.
00:27But from there, with bad connectivity, I was still able to get out a message condemning it very strongly.
00:33I think this is, there is no doubt anymore in anyone's mind.
00:36This is part of a pattern we have seen for a quarter of a century.
00:39Going back to Chhattispura in 2000 and going through so many other incidents.
00:46And most notably, of course, we've seen Uri, we've seen Sangrota, we've seen Pathankot, we've seen Pulwama.
00:53And now we have seen the horrors of Pahlgaam.
00:55I think it's very clear there is a pattern.
00:58People are encouraged, trained, armed, equipped and often guided from across the border.
01:03Then Pakistan denies all responsibility.
01:06Eventually, responsibility is established, proven, including by foreign intelligence agencies.
01:12And then India has to seize.
01:15But we tend not to escalate beyond the point.
01:17Last two times, there was some retaliation.
01:20After Uri, we sent, the government sent a surgical strike across the border.
01:25And after Balakot, I'm sorry, after Pulwama, there was a Balakot airstrike.
01:30Now, today, I think we're going to see something more than that.
01:33I think it's very clear that while we have a whole range of options, diplomatic, economic, intelligence sharing, cover-attaction, over-attaction, all of that,
01:41some sort of visible military response is unavoidable.
01:47I think the nation is demanding it and expecting it.
01:49No one knows what it will be, where it will be, and when it will be.
01:53But I am convinced there will be some response.
01:55Sir, at the same time, after Modi government came into power, it's the seventh time, the seventh or eighth time.
02:00It's at least the eleventh or twelfth time that the casualties have been more than one or two people.
02:06There have been dozens of attacks with one or two victims.
02:09But if you look at the number of attacks which has taken, at least double-figure tools, this must be at least the tenth or twelfth.
02:14Listen, these are the people who were invited to participate in the investigation into Pathan court.
02:26They sent their intelligence.
02:27Even we gave them access to an Indian Air Force base.
02:30And they went back and said, oh, the Indians did it to themselves.
02:32I will have no interest personally in Pakistan's participation in any investigation.
02:38You do not ask a murderer to investigate his own murders.
02:40Right now, India said that every Pakistan is to go back to their country.
02:46And also, they have stopped the Indus Valley Treaty as well.
02:51So how do you see these measures taken by the Indian government?
02:54Look, the human costs of people being forced to go back is sad.
02:57I know there are, in Kerala alone, I believe 59 Pakistani citizens are medical patients here.
03:03And they will have to go in the middle of their treatment.
03:05There are husbands and wives across the border in both countries who will be affected.
03:09There are complicated cases where one parent has one passport, the child has another passport.
03:15I feel sorry for them.
03:16But I think when the government wants to send a very strong signal that normal relations are no longer possible,
03:21this inevitably happens.
03:23Ordinary human beings are the victims.
03:24When it comes to the Indus Waters Treaty, it has not been abrogated.
03:28It has been placed in abeyance, which is like saying it's been suspended.
03:32Frankly, at the moment, I don't see very much change to the Pakistanis because India has not built either storage facilities or diversionary structures into which the water can go.
03:45So we cannot suddenly say, tomorrow, Pakistan, you're getting no water because where will the water go?
03:49We can't flood India either.
03:50So it is more a symbolic gesture at this point.
03:54The treaty is in suspension.
03:56We will not feel ourselves bound by it.
03:58What we do to implement more serious measures, I leave it to the government.
04:02At the same time, Pakistan People Party Chairman, beloved speaker, says that it's threatened that the blood will grow in reverse if the water stop.
04:11Look, there is all this inflammatory rhetoric.
04:13The Pakistanis have to understand that they cannot kill Indians with impunity.
04:20It's as simple a message as that.
04:23You want to leave your life in peace.
04:25We will not bother you.
04:26We will leave you in peace.
04:27We have no designs on Pakistan.
04:29We don't want to do anything to the Pakistanis ourselves.
04:32But if you do something to us, then be prepared for a response.
04:35I think that message is very clear.
04:37They can say what they like.
04:39And if blood is going to flow, I'm sorry to say it will flow possibly more on their side than on ours.
04:43The last question is about the opposition says that the intelligence has been failed, the government has been failed.
04:49Right now, it may be the premium general secretary says that the work of article 370 is the main cause of these kind of issues happening in India.
04:57So how do you see those?
04:59Look, as far as intelligence failure is concerned, it's obvious that there was not foolproof intelligence.
05:04Obviously, there was some failure.
05:05But the question is whether the inevitable investigation that is required should be the priority now or whether a credible response should be the priority now.
05:15In due course, there will have to be an investigation by the government because it's the government's own responsibility to fix accountability and figure out what happened.
05:24And I hope they will do so.
05:25But we've got the example of Israel October 7th, the world's best intelligence services, according to everybody, were taken by surprise on October 7th just two years ago.
05:34And my own view very clearly is that it seems to me that just as the Israelis are waiting till the end of the war before they demand accountability and answers,
05:44similarly, we too should first see the present crisis through and then definitely there should be an accounting.
05:50But I don't expect at any time now or in the future that any country will ever have 100% foolproof intelligence.
05:58Sometimes you succeed, sometimes you don't.
06:00We'll never know about the various terror attacks that were successfully thwarted.
06:04We only know about the ones we failed to thwart.
06:07That is normal in any kind of relationship.
06:10I do agree that there were failures.
06:12But I do not agree right now that that should be the main focus.
06:16Its main focus should be the outrageous crimes committed against innocent Indian tourists,
06:21the damage that is sought to be wrought to the economy of Kashmir in order to increase discontent in Kashmir,
06:27the damage being done to communal relations even within India by their kind of inflammatory communal rhetoric.
06:34When the general in charge of the Pakistan army says Hindus and Muslims can never live together,
06:39what is the message he wants to send?
06:40This is disgraceful, contemptible language, and we must stand up firmly and unitedly against it.
06:47To my mind, all of India is united in wanting to give a fitting response to the Pakistanis.
06:53Minutes before, Narendra Modi, in the minute of a monkey park,
06:57says that the perpetrators will get a harshly response.
07:00Do you think this harshly response will give up at a time, like quickly for them?
07:08No, I am sure it won't be too long in coming.
07:11But obviously the government will not signal what it is until it has happened.
07:13I mean, you have some desire to show some element of surprise in what you do.
07:19But there will certainly be a response.
07:21And what is more, I believe the nation will support whatever response the government judges appropriate.
07:25Because we are no longer going to take this lying down.
07:29When we are talking, there are tensions going on in Pakistan and India borders.
07:34So how do you see those things as well?
07:35Look, it's sad.
07:36No one wants war.
07:37We, any government of India is focused, first of all, on the development of India,
07:41on the economy, on the growth, on the prosperity of the Indian people.
07:44We don't want to be distracted by war.
07:46We didn't start this.
07:47And let's make that very clear.
07:49We are a country that is not interested in initiating war with anybody.
07:54It's not in our civilizational history.
07:55It is not in our recent political history.
07:58We are a country that wants to live in peace and focus on the well-being of our own people.
08:03Unfortunately, there are malign, evil men on the other side of the border who will not let us live in peace,
08:09who are determined to destroy all hopes of peace in our country.
08:14And that is why it is indispensable that we teach them a lesson so they're not tempted to misbehave like this again in future.
08:21The last question about Trump, the statement, he said that India and Pakistan will figure it out one way or other.
08:26One way or the other.
08:27Well, we're going to try.
08:28We've tried many ways.
08:29I think we'll try one more.
08:30And then we'll see how they're going to figure it out in response.
08:33And then, if necessary, we'll respond again.
08:35OK.