Pakistan’s peacemaker role won’t erase past misdeeds, says Shashi Tharoor amid US-Iran talks
Tharoor emphasized that if Pakistan emerges as a peaceful country in a particular context, it will not erase the evidence of its past misdeeds.
Speaking to reporters after attending the National History Conference here, Tharoor said Pakistan had “a role in the game” as it shares a 900-kilometre border with Iran and has a significant Shiite population.
The Congress leader noted that if the conflict escalates, all refugees will come to Pakistan, so its stake in this game is different from India’s. “I don’t see any competition with Pakistan on this issue,” he said.
Tharoor expressed his belief that India’s primary interest is to achieve peace. “I think we have to follow very carefully what’s going on. Our government, our prime minister, our foreign minister, our oil minister, everyone is in contact with the leaders of that region because it’s in our interest. We can’t afford to be disconnected; we have to be very actively involved and I will say that we certainly have to hope that peace will come as a result of those efforts.”
The former foreign minister said: “I don’t think there is any need to worry about who makes the peace. If peace comes, it won’t matter who makes the peace. On the other hand, if peace fails, then we have to analyze very carefully the reasons for that failure and see if there is a way in which we can contribute to a different outcome.” he said.
Tharoor underlined that India has a fundamental interest in maintaining both peace and regional stability. “The gap is dangerous; it hurts us in other ways as well. India, as the leading voice of the Global South, is a responsible stakeholder in the process of building a viable regional and global order and therefore we cannot afford to remain passive, just observe as fires break out in the neighbourhood, we need to play an active role, but it must be a carefully considered role where we examine for ourselves what is what. It is the most useful contribution we can make,” Tharoor said.
“Sometimes that useful contribution can actually be in the silence. I’ve written about this before. But today we are understandably more active in the region, with three ministers walking around and the prime minister on the phone. That’s all very well. We need to see a lot more of that because that engagement is what keeps us alive and can potentially play a bigger role that we can’t play today,” Tharoor said. he said.
Tharoor also came down hard on Pakistan over Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s social media post in which he called for a two-week extension to allow diplomacy in the West Asian conflict. Shortly after publication, users posted screenshots of the post’s edit history, which initially bore the line: “Draft – Pakistan’s PM Message on X.”
“I think Washington gave the message to the Prime Minister of Pakistan to publish on
Tharoor also reiterated that even if Pakistan emerges as a peaceful country, it will not erase its previous evils.
“If he wants to be known as a peacemaker, he must dismantle the terrorist infrastructure and terrorist training camps in his countries, freeze bank accounts and arrest leaders who are circulating hate speech. Only then will we truly believe that a real change has taken place within you,” Tharoor said.
These remarks came amid a high-stakes meeting between the US and Iran planned to be held in Islamabad. US Vice President JD Vance and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf arrived in Pakistan on Saturday for peace talks as the international community awaits a breakthrough to end the escalating conflict that has triggered widespread economic disruptions in West Asia.
While Vance is accompanied by Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, the Iranian delegation led by Ghalibaf includes Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Supreme National Defense Council Secretary Ali Akbar Ahmadian and Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati.
The two sides are in Islamabad to participate in peace talks mediated by Pakistan, four days after Iran and the United States declared a two-week ceasefire. However, the massive wave of Israeli attacks on Lebanon, which killed more than 300 people, devastated the ceasefire.
Tehran claimed the attack violated the terms of the ceasefire agreement, while the US and Israel said Lebanon was not part of the agreement.
Earlier at the National History Conference, Tharoor said the question of who writes our past is not limited to historians alone, but belongs to institutions, politicians, educators and those who shape public discourse.
“In a broader sense, it belongs to all of us, because the way a society remembers its past is inseparable from how it understands itself in the present. History is not just inherited; it is interpreted, discussed and often contested,” he said.
