Brasilia [Brazil], June 2 (ANI): Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, leading an all-party delegation to Brazil, on Monday said that the Latin country “fully sympathises” with India’s concerns regarding cross-border terrorism.
The delegation, which briefed Ambassador Celso Amorim, the Head Adviser to the Brazilian President, on the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack and India’s subsequent Operation Sindoor, received strong condemnation of terrorism from Brazil, reiterating solidarity with India.
“It was a wonderful meeting… we have worked closely together… it was an easy conversation…we are finding lots of areas of agreement and cooperation. There is such a good personal equation between the President of Brazil and our PM…we cooperate on several forums… for us it was an understanding to expand their understanding of our recent challenges from across the border…we know that Brazil will fully sympathise with what India is concerned about,” Tharoor stated.
His remarks followed a meeting with Amorim, who affirmed Brazil’s stance, saying, “Even if the reasons may be sad, it is a satisfaction to receive our Indian friends… we reiterated our condemnation of all acts of terrorism against the civilian population in India.”
Earlier during his interaction with the Ambassador Celso Amorim, Tharoor noted that following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, India was not aiming at war but at sending a strong message to terrorists and their supporters across the border. He stated that Pakistan provided safe havens, financing, and training to perpetrators.
During his interactions, Tharoor elaborated on the purpose of the delegation’s visit to Brazil and expressed gratitude for Brazil’s support, including President Lula da Silva’s personal condolences to PM Narendra Modi, while seeking greater international understanding for India’s challenges with cross-border terrorism.
“The reason we have come is very much to seek greater sympathy and understanding on the part of our friends and also countries that are not necessarily our friends, but you are in the high friend category, for the situations in the recent months, in particular the really serious attack on the country by terrorists in Kashmir… I must say that, seeing the statement by Brazil, we were also very touched by President telephoning our PM, 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 govt decided to send a strong message,” Tharoor stated.
“I want to say once again if Pakistan had not chosen to expand the conflict, we would not have targeted Pakistani military facilitators. We are not looking for war. We are looking only to send a message to terrorists, but through them, we want the message to be heard by those who are providing them safe haven, by those who are financing them, training them, equipping them, guiding them and sending them across the border,” he stated, clarifying India’s stance.
Following the interaction, the delegation met with the India-Brazil Friendship Front (Federal Senate), headed by Senator Nelsinho Trad and Ambassador Maria Laura da Rocha, Secretary General of Foreign Affairs at Itamaraty Palace.
The Tharoor-led delegation includes Shambhavi Chaudhary (Lok Janshakti Party), Sarfaraz Ahmed (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha), G M Harish Balayogi (Telugu Desam Party), Shashank Mani Tripathi, Tejaswi Surya, Bhubaneswar Kalita (all from BJP), Mallikarjun Devda (Shiv Sena), former Indian Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu, and Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora. (ANI)
