Shashi Tharoor states in the US that India’s counterattacks in Pakistan and PoK following the Pahalgam terror incident indicate a ‘new norm’.

Following a terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir last month that resulted in 26 civilian fatalities, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor stated that India has established a “new norm” in its stance on cross-border terrorism originating from Pakistan.

“There is now got to be a new norm,” Tharoor said during an interaction in New York with members of the Indian-American community, media, and think tanks. “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.”

Tharoor, who is leading a multi-party parliamentary delegation across the Americas as part of India’s diplomatic outreach following the April 22 attack, said the retaliatory strikes under Operation Sindoor had delivered a precise but restrained response to what he described as a “savage” act of terror.

The Pahalgam assault aimed at civilians — predominantly tourists — executed by gunmen who selected victims according to their faith. The Resistance Front (TRF) claimed responsibility for the assault, a group that India has consistently recognized as a proxy for Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based entity included on US and UN terrorism sanctions lists. In response, India executed precise air and missile attacks on nine terrorist locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, targeting Lashkar-e-Taiba facilities in Muridke and Jaish-e-Mohammed sites in Bahawalpur.

“We didn’t want to start anything,” Tharoor said of the Indian response. “We were just sending a message to terrorists: you started, we replied. If you stop, we stop. And they stopped.”

The Congress MP described the brief military escalation as an “88-hour war,” and emphasized that it was not intended to mark the beginning of a prolonged conflict.

“India sent a clear message that it was not going to take terror lying down,” he said. “But equally, by delivering very precise, calibrated strikes on specific targets, we were also sending a message that this was not meant to be the opening salvo in a protracted war — just an act of retribution.”

Tharoor also pointed out that New Delhi submitted dossiers to the United Nations’ sanctions committee in 2023 and 2024, highlighting TRF’s connections to prohibited organizations. Nevertheless, following the Pahalgam incident, he mentioned, a mention of TRF in a suggested UN Security Council press release was omitted — reportedly due to pressure from Pakistan and with backing from China.

“Sadly, Pakistan chose to follow its usual path of denial,” he said.

Despite the escalation, Tharoor reiterated that India harbours no desire for a long-term conflict. “We are not interested in warfare with Pakistan,” he said. “We would much rather be left alone to grow our economy and put our people into the world of the 21st century.”

India, he added, seeks stability, not escalation. “We have a right to self-defense. We’ve exercised that right. We have not done so irresponsibly,” Tharoor said. “That’s really the message I wanted to give you all today.”

Tharoor’s comments arise during a wider effort by Indian legislators to share India’s story globally. The government stated that its recent clash with Pakistan was a direct reaction to the Pahalgam killings, challenging Islamabad’s assertion that the escalation began with Operation Sindoor.

The parliamentary delegation led by Tharoor — comprising lawmakers from various political parties in India such as the BJP, Congress, TDP, JMM, and Shiv Sena — also features Taranjit Singh Sandhu, a former Ambassador to the US. Their schedule includes stops in Guyana, Panama, Colombia, Brazil, and the United States, arriving back in New York on June 3.

On Saturday, the delegation visited the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in Manhattan, laying a wreath in honour of the nearly 3,000 victims of the 2001 terror attacks in the United States. Tharoor, speaking afterward, said the visit was not only a solemn tribute but also a symbolic gesture of global solidarity in the fight against terrorism.

“It was a very moving moment for us,” he said. “But it was also meant to send a very strong message that we are here in a city which is still bearing the scars of that savage terrorist attack, in the wake of yet another terrorist attack in our own country.”