‘No one in Pakistan will be allowed to believe they can just…’: Shashi Tharoor's stern message on ‘new norm’

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who is leading the all-party delegation that's reaching out to the US over Operation Sindoor, said on Sunday that India's military response to the Pahalgam terror attack is going to be the new normal in India's approach to combating terrorism.

Tharoor said no one sitting in Pakistan is going to be allowed to believe that they can just walk across the border and kill Indian citizens with impunity, as he asserted that there will be a “price to pay.”

The Congress MP emphasised on India's new normal in its approach against terror, saying “There is now got to be a new norm. No one sitting in Pakistan is going to be allowed to believe that they can just walk across the border and kill our citizens with impunity. There will be a price to pay and that price has been going up systematically.”

Shashi Tharoor condemns Pakistan's denial

India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 in response to the Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives on May 22 in Kashmir. Tharoor is leading a delegation of Indian MPs to Guyana, Panama, Colombia, Brazil, and the US, to convey India's stance against terrorism and emphasising Pakistan's links to terror.

Tharoor condemned Pakistan's denial of responsibility of the Pahalgam terror attack, reminding the world about the Resistance Front that had initially claimed credit for the atrocity but later deleted it.

“Within one hour of the atrocity, a group called Resistance Front had claimed credit, they were known as frontal organisation of banned LeT, which is on the US designated terror list as well. India had gone to the UN sanctions committee with information about Resistance Front in 2023, 2024, and 2025. After global condemnation, they deleted the claim,” Tharoor said.

“Therefore, the culpability lay not just with 4-5 evil killers who came to Pahalgam, but also with those who send them, finance them, train them, equip them, guide them,” he added.

Speaking against Pakistan, Tharoor said that it chose the ‘usual path of denial’.

“We know where the responsibility lay. Sadly Pakistan chose the usual path of denial, they succeeded with the help of China, succeeded in removing a reference to Resistance Front from the press statement of the UN two days later. Though the name was not mentioned, we knew what was happening. India replied that this will not go unanswered,” he said.

He also called out Pakistan on the absence of any conviction, serious criminal prosecution or attempt to break its terror infrastructure.

“Pakistan has remained in denial, there has been absolutely no conviction, no serious criminal prosecution, no attempt to dismantle the terror infrastructure,” he said.

The delegation reached New York on Saturday and will travel to Guyana from there. It will return to the US on June 3.