Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, currently leading a multiparty parliamentary delegation to Colombia, emphasized India's position on the Indus Waters Treaty and reiterated the country's firm stance against terrorism.
Speaking in Bogotá on Thursday (local time), Tharoor said the treaty, extended by India to Pakistan in the 1960s, was rooted in goodwill but has been persistently undermined by cross-border terrorism.
He also expressed disappointment over the Colombian government's response to recent developments, pointing out that it offered condolences for Pakistani casualties following Indian strikes instead of showing solidarity with victims of the Pahalgam terror attack.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WATCH?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WATCH</a> | Bogotá, Colombia | Congress MP Shashi Tharoor says, "We were a little disappointed in the reaction of the Colombian government, which apparently expressed heartfelt condolences on the loss of lives in Pakistan after the Indian strikes, rather than sympathising with the… <a href="https://t.co/AgpOMpNpSt">pic.twitter.com/AgpOMpNpSt</a></p>— ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1928250010443075925?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 30, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
"We were a little disappointed in the reaction of the Colombian government, which apparently expressed heartfelt condolences on the loss of lives in Pakistan after the Indian strikes, rather than sympathising with the victims of terrorism," Tharoor remarked.
Turning to the broader issue of the Indus Waters Treaty, Tharoor said India had shown consistent goodwill over the years but that this had been met with betrayal.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WATCH?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WATCH</a> | Bogotá, Colombia | Congress MP Shashi Tharoor says, "The Indus Waters Treaty was one that was offered by India to Pakistan in the early 1960s in a spirit of goodwill and harmony. In fact, those words occur in the preamble of the treaty; sadly, that goodwill has been… <a href="https://t.co/DtDkSIHthG">pic.twitter.com/DtDkSIHthG</a></p>— ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1928265124651094033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 30, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
"The Indus Waters Treaty was offered by India to Pakistan in the early 1960s in a spirit of goodwill and harmony. Those words occur in the preamble of the treaty; sadly, that goodwill has been repeatedly betrayed by the terrorist actions of the last four decades," he said during a press interaction.
Tharoor highlighted that the treaty remained intact despite wars and terror attacks, but the current Indian government had now decided to suspend its operations. “Even though we have had terrorism and war inflicted on us, the treaty has remained in place, but this time our government has placed the treaty in abeyance, which means it is in effect suspended. Its operations are suspended until we get satisfactory indication from Pakistan that they're prepared to conduct themselves in that spirit of goodwill that is provided for in the preamble of the treaty.”
He emphasized India’s role as a responsible upper riparian state. “We are very conscious that we have been a generous neighbour when it comes to the operation of the treaty. We are in an upper riparian state. We have given Pakistan very generously the waters that they are entitled to under the treaty, and we have not even used all the waters we are entitled to under the treaty. But the time for acting based on goodwill unilaterally is frankly no longer with us...”
Signed in 1960 and brokered by the World Bank, the Indus Waters Treaty governs the distribution of the Indus River system between India and Pakistan. Despite multiple wars and diplomatic tensions, the treaty has largely withstood the test of time—until recent escalations in terrorism-related hostilities raised questions about its future.
Tharoor also addressed India’s response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, asserting that the country had no choice but to take decisive action. “India suffered a grievous terrorist attack on the 22nd of April... When this happened, of course, the world rose up to condemn the terrorist attack, but that was as far as it went. There was no action taken, not even by the country where these people had emerged from, Pakistan. Nobody was arrested, and there was no attempt at any prosecution. India decided that this kind of outrage could not go unpunished. On May 7, India chose to strike against known terror bases and launch pads.”
He also underlined the depth of Pakistan’s alleged complicity with terrorist groups. “There (in Pakistan) was a well-publicised funeral of one of the terrorists on the sanctions list. That funeral was attended by uniformed senior military and police personnel from Pakistan. That is the extent of complicity that we are seeing between the terrorists who perpetrate crimes of this nature and those who finance, guide, train, arm, and equip them and do provide them safe haven to continue their training and their other awful deeds.”
The Indian delegation to Colombia, led by Tharoor, comprises parliamentarians from across the political spectrum, including 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), Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora, and former Indian Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu.
