‘Forgotten Osama Already?’: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor Scolds Trump For Lunch With Pak Army Chief

Thiruvananthapuram : Senior Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor issued a blunt reminder of Pakistan’s terror connections while sharply criticizing the move of former US President Donald Trump in having lunch with Pakistan Army chief General Asim Munir on Wednesday.

“Have Americans already forgotten Osama bin Laden?” Tharoor queried, recalling the 9/11 plotter discovered in Abbottabad, a stone’s throw from a large Pakistani military base. Bin Laden was eliminated in a secret U.S. Navy SEAL raid in 2011 — a raid that revealed Pakistan’s complicity and outraged Washington.

“Some Senators and Congressmen who greeted the Pakistani delegation might remember this betrayal, but how can the American people so easily forget?” Tharoor questioned, emphasizing that Pakistani facilitation of the world’s most wanted terrorist “cannot be so easily forgiven.

Trump’s lunch meeting with General Munir has caused alarm in Indian diplomatic quarters, particularly against the backdrop of Munir’s inflammatory words over the last few days. In the run-up to lunch, Munir was said to have made provocative comments about Kashmir being Pakistan’s “jugular vein” and Pakistanis having a “superior culture” over Indians — words which came at the same time as the Pahalgam terrorist strike that killed 26.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar was blunt talking to a Dutch journalist — laying the blame squarely on Munir’s “extreme religious belief” and cautioning against the pernicious ideology driving cross-border terrorism.

India has long blamed Pakistan’s military-intelligence complex, or the “deep state,” for conducting terror operations inside India as well as outside. Intelligence officials have attributed Pakistan-sponsored operatives with recent attacks in London and Moscow too, NDTV said.

Tharoor cautioned that the United States should be careful in its approach towards a government that continues to “finance, arm, train, and send terrorists to our country.” He further said, “I hope, while the General was being wined and dined, he received this message — because that is in America’s interest too.”

What has also heightened diplomatic tension is the timing of Munir’s White House visit — a day after a telephone call between Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was present at the G7 Summit in Canada.

Modi allegedly declined a White House invitation for scheduling reasons. In their conversation, he reaffirmed India’s strong opposition to third-party intervention on Kashmir, rejecting Trump’s frequent assertions that he had facilitated the ceasefire in India’s Operation Sindoor.

Trump is said to still claim credit for de-escalation despite being corrected several times by Indian officials, grieving that the media has “ignored” his role.

While Indian officials continue to express alarm at Pakistan’s double-dealings in the matter of terror, Tharoor’s candid message is a reminder — not only to Trump, but also to the world community — that history cannot be wished away in the interests of diplomacy.