India will not talk to Pakistan with gun pointed at our head: Shashi Tharoor

US correspondent from US: An Indian parliamentary team tasked with highlighting Pakistan's terrorist depredations has conveyed to US interlocutors that New Delhi will not talk to Islamabad "with a gun pointed to our head" even as a Pakistani delegation tailing the Indian team in Washington DC desperately sought President Trump's mediation between the two sides.

Summing up India's stance, delegation leader Shashi Tharoor likened Pakistan to a neighbor who "unleashes a rottweiler to bite your children and do worse and then says 'let's talk." Talks are not possible unless Pakistan locks up the rottweilers (terrorists) or puts them to sleep, Tharoor said.Tharoor also rejected efforts to insinuate US into bilateral issues saying India has enormous respect for the American presidency and the American president, but "we have never particularly wanted to ask anyone to mediate."

The Indian delegation met US vice-president JD Vance at the White House on Thursday morning to convey India's stance. Vance, who initially said the India-Pakistan scrap was "not our business" as New Delhi launched punitive strikes against Pakistan for the Pahalgam terrorist attacks, virtually greenlighting the retribution, later jumped into the fray to bring about a truce. India has since made it clear that he was merely conveying Pakistan's desire to stand down, and New Delhi will not brook any mediation.

"Excellent meeting with Vice President @JDVance today in Washington D.C. with our delegation. We had comprehensive discussions covering a wide array of critical issues, from counter-terrorism efforts to enhancing technological cooperation. A truly constructive & productive exchange for strengthening India-US strategic partnership, with a great meeting of minds," Tharoor said after the meeting. At a press conference hours before the team met Vance, Tharoor said India can speak all the languages Pakistan speaks and is happy to talk to them in any of them if they roll up their terrorism policy and infrastructure, "but as long as they use the language of terrorism, we will use the language of force.That doesn't require a third party," even as the team from Islamabad, in its meetings, rolled out the familiar trope of "Pakistan is a victim of terrorism," which the Indian delegation ridiculed.

In one vivid presentation, BJP MP Tejasvi Surya listed five Pakistanis and five Indians who are famous in the US to highlight the difference between the two countries. For Pakistan: Ramzi Yousuf, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Faisal Shahzad, Tashfeen Malik, and Muhammad Shahzeb Khan -- all of whom conducted terrorist attacks on the US. For India: Indra Nooyi, Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, Ajay Banga, Arvind Krishna -- all corporate titans who have generated billions in economic activity in the US.

"India gives tech titans, Pak gives terrorists," Surya noted. The Indian delegation met US vice-president JD Vance on Thursday morning to convey India's stand after engaging dozens of US lawmakers from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the India Caucus, which has nearly 200 legislators, including 40 Senators, compared to the Pakistan Caucus, which has only around 50 members -- a differential the Indian side mentioned to highlight the breadth of support for India.

The Pakistani team meanwhile labored to make an impression on the few meetings its cobbled together on the Hill, insisting that the Kashmir issue was an “unfinished agenda of the United Nations” despite being outed repeatedly on UN resolutions that seek Pakistan's withdrawal from the territory it has occupied. "Raised concerns over India’s recent provocations, the deepening humanitarian crisis in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir," Bhutto posted on X after one such meeting, even though there is no humanitarian crisis in J&K other than terrorist attacks initiated by Pakistan. The Indian delegation in fact told US interlocutors that J&K was seeing unprecedented economic activity and travel boom, "with more tourists than in Aspen, Colorado" before Pahalgam terrorist attack.