India not interested in war with Pakistan, but will respond to aggression: Shashi Tharoor

India has no intention of initiating war with Pakistan, but any act of aggression targeting the country's civilian, military, or government establishments would receive a strong and appropriate response, Indian Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said today (8 May).

Speaking to reporters, the Thiruvananthapuram MP said, "India gave a 'calibrated response' to the 22 April Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives, but we have no intention of escalating it further."

"We had to respond to the terror attack, and we did that by targeting terrorist base camps at night to avoid civilian casualties. It was a measured, carefully executed operation," Tharoor said, referring to the Indian Army's retaliatory Operation Sindoor, reports PTI.

In the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack, Pakistan reportedly launched heavy artillery shelling in the Poonch sector, resulting in 15 deaths and injuring at least 59 civilians.

Shashi confirmed that Indian forces are actively responding to these hostilities, but reiterated that escalation is not India's objective.

"We are not escalating this into a war because we want the world to see our behaviour as responsible," he stated. "We deliberately refrained from targeting Pakistani military or government infrastructure, even though we are fully aware of their involvement in harbouring terrorism."

The Congress leader made it clear that if Pakistan were to target India's civilian or official establishments, the country would not hesitate to retaliate. "We will surely give a strong reply. I have no doubt about it. But we will not initiate a conflict," Tharoor said.

He also noted that all party meetings held before and after the Indian Army's Operation Sindoor shows that the country was standing as one with its armed forces.