- After the Trump-Munir lunch, Tharoor urged the US to remember Pak had harboured Osama bin Laden after 9/11
- Tharoor also urged Trump to warn Pak Army chief against supporting cross-border terror attacks on Indian soil
- Earlier, the Pak Army chief's comments on Kashmir before the Pahalgam terror attack were widely condemned
Remember Osama bin Laden - the Al-Qaeda terrorist boss behind the 2001 World Trade Center attack that killed nearly 3,000 people, and who was found hiding near a Pakistan Army camp.
This was Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's stark message to the American people amid disquiet over President Donald Trump's lunch date Wednesday with Pak Army chief General Asim Munir.
"Some Senators and Congressmen who met the Pak delegation did... but people in the US could not have forgotten the Osama episode so quickly. Pak's culpability in hiding this man until he was found... near an Army camp cannot be so easily forgiven by the Americans," he said.
The warning was subtle but clear - do not trust a duplicitous Pak administration, given it had harboured the man responsible for the worst terror attack in US history, and also supports terrorist attacks on India
Mr Tharoor said he hoped President Trump took the opportunity to warn the Army chief against 'financing, arming, training, and dispatching terrorists to our country (India) from their soil'.
"I hope, while the General was being wined and dined, he got all these messages... because that would also be in America's interest," the Thiruvananthapuram MP said.
The Trump-Munir lunch has been viewed with alarm in India, particularly because the Army chief's outrageous and incendiary comments - about Kashmir being Pak's "jugular" and the Pakistani people being a "superior culture" compared to Indians - came days before the Pahalgam terror attack.
The remarks were condemned.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told a Dutch broadcaster the terrorists, who killed 26 people based on their faith that day, had been driven by Munir's "extreme religious outlook".
The Indian government, meanwhile, said it had ample evidence to indicate the Pahalgam attack, and several others, had been orchestrated by the Pak deep state.
READ | Pak 'One Of World's Most Dangerous, Terror Trail In Moscow, London'
India has frequently warned the world of Pak's links to terrorist activities. After Pahalgam sources told NDTV there is intel to suggest Pak-backed terrorists had also struck in London and Moscow recently.
The Trump-Munir lunch has also raised eyebrows in India for its timing.
General Munir's White House visit was scheduled for the day after Mr Trump spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the phone. Mr Modi - speaking from the G7 Summit in Canada - was asked to the White House too, but, for obvious reasons, declined the invitation.
READ | "No Trade Deal Talk Or Mediation Offer During Pak Conflict": PM To Trump
During their phone call the PM told President Trump, in no uncertain terms, that India will never ask for third-party mediation to resolve the issue of Pak's illegal occupation of Kashmir.
READ | 'Vacate Illegally Occupied Kashmir': India Says Demand To Pak Won't Change
The strong statement followed Mr Trump claiming, repeatedly, that he had negotiated the end to Operation Sindoor. This was despite India making it clear it was Pak that asked for the ceasefire.
READ | "Love Pak, Modi Fantastic": Trump Repeats Stopping Conflict Claim
The PM's message, though, seemed to have no impact; hours later Mr Trump again claimed credit for the ceasefire, complaining also the media had sidelined his role in the process.
With input from agencies
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