Op. Sindoor: Group of US lawmakers support India’s right to retaliate
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: A group of US lawmakers has strongly condemned the April 22 massacre of 26 Hindu-only tourists at Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, and supported India’s right to self-defense and retaliate, as they invoked a shared commitment to zero tolerance against terrorism.
At a high-level meeting in Washington with the visiting all-party delegation, led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, members of the Congressional India Caucus emphasized the strategic depth of India-US ties, while backing New Delhi’s firm stance on cross-border terror, the media reported on Thursday.
“The Congressmen expressed unequivocal and bipartisan condemnation for the terror attack in Pahalgam. They expressed support for India’s right to respond to terrorism in the spirit of zero tolerance against terrorism,” the Indian Embassy said in a post on X.
The India Caucus, led by Co-Chairs Rep. Ro Khanna and Rep. Rich McCormick, along with Vice Co-Chairs Rep. Andy Barr and Rep. Marc Veasey, met with the Indian delegation for detailed briefings on the threat landscape India faces.
The delegation, which included leaders from across India’s political spectrum, highlighted the success of Operation Sindoor, India’s recent counter-terror operation, as an inflection point in the South Asian country’s counterterrorism approach. The mission, they said, is “defining a new normal” in New Delhi’s campaign against cross-border terrorism.
The delegation also held candid and fruitful exchanges with House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) leadership, the embassy said.
“Chair @RepBrianMast, Ranking Member @RepGregoryMeeks, South and Central Asia Subcommittee Chair @RepHuizenga, Ranking Member @RepKamlagerDove, Ranking Member @RepBera and East Asia and Pacific Subcommittee @RepYoungKim greeted the delegation,” the Indian Embassy said in another post on X.
The committee leadership condemned the Pahalgam attack unequivocally and said India and the USA stand together in their unwavering resolve and fight against terrorism in all its forms.
The Tharoor-led group was among the seven multi-party delegations India had tasked to visit 33 global capitals to reach out to the international community to emphasise Pakistan’s links to terrorism, and New Delhi’s position. Some of these delegations returned to New Delhi in the last couple of days.
Besides Tharoor, the Americas’ delegation included MPs Sarfaraz Ahmad (JMM), Ganti Harish Madhur Balayogi (TDP), Shashank Mani Tripathi (BJP), Bhubaneswar Kalita (BJP), Milind Deora (Shiv Sena), Tejasvi Surya (BJP), and former Indian Ambassador to the U.S., Taranjit Singh Sandhu.
Deora said their group in the US, as well as those visiting other regions and countries, apprised the world that “India has had enough.”
He said that every country they visited so far “issued very unequivocal, I would almost say, unconditional, statements in favour of India.”
“We want to live in peace. We would prefer it if we have a stable neighbour. Nobody wants an unstable lunatic living next to you,” he said.
The April 22 attack was the deadliest in Jammu and Kashmir since the 2019 Pulwama strike that left 40 CRPF personnel dead.
