In Brazil, Shashi Tharoor Warns Pakistan Against Using IMF's Bailout Package For Terr
In Brazil, Shashi Tharoor Warns Pakistan Against Using IMF's Bailout Package For Terrorism
M.U.H
03/06/202541
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who is leading the all-party delegation, on Monday warned Pakistan against the misuse of the IMF’s bailout package to fund terrorism and urged the financial agency to ensure that the money given by them is only spent the way it’s supposed to be spent.
Leading the delegation in Brazil, the Congress MP said, “We don’t begrudge any country its development if the money is to be spent truly on getting people out of poverty or helping deal with development issues. Why would we object? We are humane. We believe in all sorts of well-being of the poorest of the poor in any country. But if that money simply enables Pakistan to divert more resources to supporting terrorism, to arming themselves to attack us, and so on, then it would be most unfortunate."
“And I hope that the World Bank and the IMF, both of which are bodies in which India does have some influence, I hope they will both be told by our diplomats there that it is extremely important to have complete safeguards to ensure that this money is only spent the way it’s supposed to be spent," he added.
‘Not Trying To Start War’: Shashi Tharoor
Tharoor also talked about Operation Sindoor and India’s outreach programme against terrorism. He stated that the whole idea of Operation Sindoor was to signal that India is not trying to start a war, but just conducting “retribution for an act of terror", in response to the Pahalgam terror attack. The Congress MP’s reaction came during his interaction with Brazilian Ambassador Celso Amorim.
“The whole idea was to signal that we are not trying to start a war, we are just conducting retribution for an act of terror, which was a really vile act, 26 people being killed. It was horrendous and it was meant to do the maximum possible damage to India, to disrupt the Kashmiri economy, which was booming, to end the prospects of tourism flourishing in Kashmir…also to perhaps create a communal backlash in India," Tharoor said in Brazil.
The Congress leader further highlighted India’s strong stance against terrorism, saying that they have come here to understand the understanding on the part of friends and countries that are not necessarily our friends.
“I must say that we were very touched by Brazil’s President telephoning our Prime Minister, personally, to express his concern and condolences. There was no action to bring the perpetrators to justice and even to look for them in Pakistan, so finally the government decided to send a strong message," Tharoor added.
Indian & Pakistani Delegation In US At The Same Time
The Indian delegation, led by Shashi Tharoor, will be in the US for the last leg of the visit. Notably, the Indian delegation and a Pakistani team headed by former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari are scheduled to visit the US around the same time on Tuesday. Their mission is to garner support for their respective countries from American lawmakers and political leaders.
Responding to the coincidence of the visits, Tharoor said that in Washington, we’ll have the interesting phenomenon of the Pakistani delegation in America, and almost exactly the same days. “Tomorrow almost they will be in Washington, while we are in Washington on the same date. So there’s going to be perhaps an increase in interest because of the fact that there are two duelling delegations in the same city," he added.
Tharoor further note the importance of importance of India’s relation with the US and said, “Frankly the Security Council in a sense is a small part of our relationship with the US which is huge, whether it comes to trade, whether it comes to defence, whether it comes intelligence sharing, whether it comes to our participation in the QUAD in the G-20, there are just so many avenues in which we cooperate with the US."
“It’s no accident that the Pakistanis have also sent a delegation abroad, but they’re not going to as many countries as the Indian delegations are. They’re focusing on what they consider a few key capitals, namely. Washington, Brussels. London. That seems to be the thrust of the Pakistani effort. We have gone to all those capitals and more," added Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.
