Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], May 8 (ANI): Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Thursday lauded the efforts made by the government to dismantle the communal narrative of “Hindu-Muslim” animosity peddled by Pakistani Army chief Asim Munir amid increasing tensions, saying that the special briefing on Operation Sindoor conducted by a Kashmiri Pandit (Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri) alongside a Muslim officer (Colonel Sofiya Qureshi) refutes such claims.
“We are doing all the right things so far. The nature of Operation Sindoor was right. The messaging of the press conference in which the foreign secretary, a Kashmiri Pandit, was flanked on both sides by women officers, one of whom was a Muslim, demonstrates a narrative against the one of Hindu-Muslim hostility being spread by the Pakistanis like silly general Munir. It sends a very good message,” Tharoor said in an exclusive interview to ANI.
Tharoor highlighted the objectives of the Pakistan military, stating that they orchestrated the Pahalgam terror attack, partly to put themselves back in the centre. They had plans to hurt the economy in Kashmir by disrupting the tourist boom and wanted to increase disaffection among people to turn them against the rest of India, he added.
“The army controls the government. They locked up the most popular leader in Pakistan, Imran Khan. This misadventure in Pahalgam, this criminal terrorist outrage, was partly motivated by a desire to put themselves (the army) back in the centre. They also wanted to hurt the economy of Kashmir, which was benefiting from a tourist boom. They wanted to increase disaffection among the people in Kashmir and turn them against the rest of India,” the Congress MP said.
He further stated that the Pakistan Army wanted to disrupt the understanding that Kashmir was coming towards normalcy and to show the world that the Kashmir issue remains unresolved. The Pakistan Army wanted to portray itself as “saviours” since they knew how India would react.
“They knew India would react, and then they could portray themselves as the heroes, the saviours of the nation. They wanted to re-hyphenate India and Pakistan in the global imagination and show the world that Kashmir was still an unresolved issue. There was a sense that Kashmir was coming back to normal, and they wanted to end all of that. All of these were the Pakistani military’s objectives,” Tharoor said.
He went on to say that the Pakistan army controls the government there, which is widely seen as a puppet, and has given “nothing” to the people in the neighbouring country, except food and water shortages.
“The Pakistani military was unpopular already in their country due to many reasons: disproportionate control of life, politics in Pakistan. The fact that the government was widely seen as a puppet. Pakistan’s army is the most pampered institution of its kind in the world. They have given the people of Pakistan nothing in return. The people (in Pakistan) are suffering from various calamities, including power cuts, food and water shortages,” Tharoor added. (ANI)
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