'That shouldn't be allowed. This is my son': Shashi Tharoor fields son Ishaan's question at a briefing in US

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor had an unexpected - and very familiar - questioner at a recent press conference in New York, where he is leading an all-party delegation as part of Operation Sindoor.

His son, Washington Post columnist Ishaan Tharoor, posed a pointed query about Pakistan's involvement, sparking smiles and headlines.

During a media briefing at the Council on Foreign Relations, Ishaan Tharoor rose to ask his father whether any Western officials had requested evidence of Pakistan's culpability in the attacks.

"You have to stand up. That shouldn't be allowed. This is my son," Shashi Tharoor said with a broad grin, drawing chuckles in the room.

"Definitely asking a question in a personal capacity. And mostly to say hi before you go off to your next engagement," replied Ishaan, introducing himself as a journalist from The Washington Post.

Grinning, the senior Tharoor quipped, "I'm very glad you raised this, Ishaan. I didn't plant it, I promise you. This guy does this to his dad," before proceeding to answer seriously.

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He firmly stated that no government interlocutors had asked for evidence. "Very simply, no one had any doubt and we were not asked for evidence. But the media have asked in two or three places. Let me say very clearly that India would not have done this without convincing evidence," he said.

Tharoor also reminded the American audience of Pakistan’s history with terrorism. “We’ve had a 37-year pattern of repeated terror attacks from Pakistan, accompanied by repeated denials," he said, citing the example of Osama Bin Laden being found in a Pakistani safe house near an army camp.

“They will dispatch terrorists, they will deny they did so until they’re actually caught with red hands,” he added, referencing both the Pahalgam attack and the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Tharoor is in the US as part of Operation Sindoor, an initiative aimed at engaging key global stakeholders to counter terrorism and disinformation in the aftermath of the recent deadly strike in Jammu and Kashmir.