Washington, DC [US], June 5 (ANI): Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who is leading an all-party delegation to the United States, said on Thursday during an interaction at the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC, that Mahatma Gandhi's presence in capitals across the world reflects India's identity as a country of non-violence, and added that the delegation shared India's position on terrorism in multiple meetings with US legislators and officials.

Speaking at the interaction, Tharoor said, 'Symbolically, I'd say that in every place we've gone to, we've been paying tribute to the statue of Mahatma Gandhi. What's striking is that there is no capital where there isn't a bust of Mahatma Gandhi. It reminds the world that we are a land of peace and non-violence. We don't desire war, we don't seek it. But if it is thrust upon us, we will face it with courage, and Mahatma Gandhi taught us all not to live in fear, and we will not live in fear...'

Tharoor emphasised that while the Indian delegation did not seek a formal Senate resolution during its visit to Capitol Hill, the primary goal was to engage with those open to dialogue and present India's viewpoint.

'What was interesting was that in all three sets of conversations, we got very positive feedback from all the attendees...Across this, we didn't have a single sceptical or negative voice. On the contrary, we got very positive responses. The two key lines I would use are, number one - total support and solidarity for India and its fight against terrorism and second - complete understanding of India's right to defend itself against terrorism,' he asserted.

Reflecting on the Pahalgam terror attack, Tharoor underscored that India does not act on conjecture. 'India doesn't go to war on suppositions and hypotheses. Our intelligence agencies have identified at least four of the five perpetrators (of the Pahalgam attack), and they know their identities. They even have pictures because some of these people have been involved in other incidents.'

During the interaction, he added, 'They have confirmed to us that two are Pakistanis and two others are locals who have exfiltrated from Indian Kashmir to Pakistan 10 years ago, and they seem to have come back for this purpose and gone back again. We have all this information, and we don't, frankly, take such a major step as Operations Sindoor without very serious grounds for doing so.'

On India's position regarding talks with Pakistan, Tharoor said, 'We cannot talk to people who are pointing a gun at our heads. Until and unless there is a serious effort being made by Pakistan to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism, to arrest some of the well-known terrorists, freeze their bank accounts, shut down their training camps...if Pakistan won't do all of these things, why should we talk to them? I often say we can talk to Pakistan in practically every language they speak there. We don't need a third party to come between us and help us talk to them, but we won't talk to them until they indicate that they're worth talking to.'

Tharoor also mentioned that on their way to Guyana, the delegation stopped in New York to visit the 9/11 Memorial. 'We showed our solidarity with the victims of terrorism everywhere since, as you know, many, many nationalities lost people in that attack of 9/11,' he said.

Earlier today, Tharoor held a high-level interaction with the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) in Washington, D.C., as part of its diplomatic outreach following Operation Sindoor.

The delegation, which met with key U.S. lawmakers including HFAC Chairman Brian Mast, Ranking Member Gregory Meeks, Congresswoman Kamlager-Dove, and Congressman Bill Huizenga, received strong bipartisan support and condemnation of the recent terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam region.

HFAC Chairman Brian Mast underlined the depth of bipartisan consensus on supporting India. 'This was a very important meeting. This is a bipartisan delegation from the House of Representatives receiving India. We are proud to receive our friend and our ally. Every one of us strongly condemned the terrorist attacks that took place. There's no room in this world for those kinds of attacks,' he said.

The delegation led by Shashi Tharoor arrived in the US on Wednesday. It includes Shambhavi Chaudhary (Lok Janshakti Party), Sarfaraz Ahmed (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha), G M Harish Balayogi (Telugu Desam Party), Shashank Mani Tripathi, Tejaswi Surya, and Bhubaneswar Kalita (all from the BJP), Mallikarjun Devda (Shiv Sena), former Indian Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu, and Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora.

The all-party delegation reached the US after completing their visit to Brazil. Their purpose is to brief key US stakeholders on Operation Sindoor, India's diplomatic effort launched to combat terrorism and disinformation following the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir.

India initiated Operation Sindoor on May 7 as a strong military response to the terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22, carried out by Pakistan-backed terrorists, which resulted in 26 deaths and several injuries. (ANI)