Shashi Tharoor on the one-year anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war

ANI |
Updated: Oct 07, 2024 10:38 p.m IS

New Delhi [India]October 7 (ANI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor termed the October 7 attacks on Israel last year as a “deeply tragic” incident but also stressed that Israel killed 41,000 people in Gaza and it as part of its right to self-defense there is an urgent need for a ceasefire.
Citing Mahatma Gandhi’s quote “An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind”, he said the entire region seemed to have been blinded after being ravaged by conflict.
Speaking to ANI on the anniversary of the October 7 attacks, Tharoor said, “It is a very serious matter. What happened on October 7th a year ago was deeply tragic, 1200 people were killed, mostly innocent civilians, and 200 were kidnapped hostages.”
“But after that, in many ways the reaction was just as bad or even worse, because while you would say that Israel initially exercised the right to self-defense, the number subsequently rose to 41,000.” People died, the majority of Gaza’s population was displaced, the entire area was horribly destroyed and of course numerous schools, hospitals, health centers, mosques and everything else was destroyed. It was a very tragic conflict,” he added.
He further said that last year no one expected the war to last for a whole year and urged the Union government to declare a ceasefire at the earliest. He also expressed concerns about the war expanding into Lebanon.
“It is fair to say that this time last year, none of us expected that a war would last a whole year. All we can do is join the government and demand a ceasefire as soon as possible. “Now we are seeing instead “the expansion of the war north towards Lebanon, where again there have been some successes on the Israeli side, but here too many civilians appear to have lost their lives, with much of the devastation that has come with it,” he said Congress leader.
“Mahatma Gandhi was right from the start. Ultimately, then, we must stop resolving our differences through the use of violence that would blind the entire world, an eye for an eye. And certainly this seems to be the case across the region. “I’m blinded by what’s going on these days,” he added.
On October 7 last year, Hamas launched a massive terrorist attack against Israel, killing over 1,200 people and holding over 250 hostage, about 100 of whom are still in captivity.
In response, Israel launched a strong counteroffensive against Hamas units in the Gaza Strip. However, the rising number of civilians has raised concerns about the humanitarian situation in the region. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict.
Asked about Israel’s decision to ban United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from entering the country and declaring him “persona non grata,” Tharoor said the move was “a little strange” and “a little extreme.” .
“Funny thing: If you are a member of a club, would you tell the club leader, the manager of the club, not to come to you, not to come to your house? That’s a bit of a strange stance.” , and I would say that, as far as I know, the Secretary General has no plans to visit Israel. “I don’t speak for just one. And if there is a conflict, it is not an unreasonable stance to demand that that conflict be ended sooner rather than later,” he said.
Commenting on Foreign Minister S Jaishankar’s upcoming visit to Pakistan to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, Tharoor said that the foreign minister would be going there for a multilateral meeting and there was no need to read too much into it.
He also highlighted that Jaishankar himself had stated that he would not hold any bilateral meeting during his visit.
“He is the first Indian foreign minister to set foot in Islamabad in nine years. He goes to a multilateral meeting. If the same meeting had taken place somewhere else, he would have gone. I don’t think he will go to bilateral talks. He has told us publicly that he will not hold bilateral talks. The meeting happens to take place in Pakistan. It is not a meeting between India and Pakistan a dozen or 910 countries,” the Thiruvananthapuram MP said.
“In this context, as a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, he is here to speak. I don’t think we can understand more about it. But if an Indian foreign minister goes to Pakistan, of course the Pakistanis could use it.” The ability to send the signals they want to send is, in my opinion, theirs. But he is not there, as he has made very clear, he is not there to initiate discussions on bilateral relations,” he added.
Jaishankar will lead the Indian delegation at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Heads of Government Council meeting in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad on October 15 and 16.
Pakistan, which holds the rotating chairmanship of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), is expected to host the Shanghai Organization (SCO) Heads of Government Council in Islamabad in October this year. (ANI)