New Delhi/IBNS: Welcoming the targeted military strike on nine terror camps across Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) to avenge the Pahalgam terror attack, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said it was India's right to defend itself against terrorism and that this was the response Indians were waiting for.

Tharoor said that India has hit legitimate targets and lauded the government for handling the matters responsibly.

"I speak for myself that this is the kind of response India was waiting for after the Pahalgam attack. We knew the government was taking diplomatic steps like suspending the waters treaty, but that was not going to be enough, something more kinetic was needed," he told India Today.

Speaking to NDTV on Wednesday, Tharoor said one of the motives behind the terrorist attack on tourists in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam was to divert attention from the fact that the Pakistani army is becoming increasingly unpopular.

The Congress MP reiterated that his party and every Indian stand behind the Centre and the armed forces.

Responding to a question on how the world has responded to India's strikes, Tharoor, who was also a senior diplomat, told NDTV that: "Three countries, France, Russia and Israel, have explicitly expressed some understanding for India's right to defend itself against terrorism. Other countries have been muted in their language. Everyone has called for de-escalation, restraint and so on, which is fine, because we are not interested in escalation."

"The Chinese, who are Pakistan's quote-unquote all-weather friend, and who might have been expected to back Pakistan more directly, have actually said that both India and Pakistan are our neighbours and we don't want to see fighting and conflict between them," he said.

Earlier in a post, Tharoor said the fact that Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, a Kashmiri Pandit himself, flanked by two women officers, one of whom is a Muslim, during the media briefing on Operation Sindoor has sent a strong message of unity to the world.

"The message of our Foreign Secretary, a Kashmiri Pandit himself, being flanked by two women officers, one of whom is a Muslim, is sending a very clear message that, as far as India is concerned, we are all united — that this is not about Hindu versus Muslim, as some Pakistanis want to make it. It is about India standing up against Pakistani terror. All of this is very well calibrated by the government, and I applaud them for it," he wrote in a post on X.

He said that India conducted the mission with "a tremendous amount of thought, calculation and calibration".

Operation Sindoor

Nine terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) were targeted and destroyed in 25 minutes of Operation Sindoor, which was conducted from 1:05 am on Wednesday by all three wings of the Indian armed forces.

According to a statement by the Press Information Bureau (PIB), the operation was aimed at neutralizing terror camps actively involved in planning and executing attacks against India.

At a press briefing with the Army, India's foreign secretary Vikram Misri said, "The attack in Pahalgam was marked by extreme barbarity, with the victims mostly killed with head shots from close range and in front of their family...the family members were deliberately traumatised through the manner of killing, accompanied by the exhortation that they should take back the message. The attack was clearly driven by the objective of undermining normalcy returning to Kashmir..."

"Our intelligence monitory of Pakistan-based terrorist modules indicated that further attacks against India are impending. Thus, compulsion, both to deter and pre-empt. Earlier this morning, India exercised its right to respond and pre-empt as well as deter more such cross-border attacks.... These actions were measured and non-escalatory, proportionate and responsible. They focused on dismantling terrorists' infrastructure."

He added, "It was deemed essential that the perpetrators and planners of the 22nd attack be brought to justice. Despite a fortnight having passed since the attack, there has been no demonstrable step from Pakistan against terrorists' infrastructure in its area."