Panama City [Panama], May 29 (ANI): Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who is leading multi-party delegation to Panama, on Wednesday (local time) reaffirmed India's firm stance against terrorism and said that the country will not turn the other cheek and will respond to any further attack.

Speaking at an event organised by the Indian Embassy, Tharoor emphasised the teaching of Mahatma Gandhi to live without fear.

'He (Mahatma Gandhi) also taught us in his brave leadership in our struggle for freedom that we must always stand up for our rights. We must always stand up in principle for the values we believe in, and we must live without fear that freedom from fear is what we in India have to fight for these days against the evil attacks of malign men who are called by the world as terrorists, but who believe that by doing this kind of thing of coming into our country, killing innocent people and going off again that they will somehow achieve some larger political or religious cause,' Tharoor said.

'That is not something that any self-respecting country will give into, and even the land of Mahatma Gandhi will not turn the other cheek when this happens, we will respond,' Tharoor added.

Further speaking about Operation Sindoor, Tharoor criticised the Pakistan Army for giving a funeral to terrorists killed during India's operation.

'When we struck the terror headquarters, we took some lives, and of course a funeral was conducted. There were some very prominent people at that funeral. There was at least one individual whose name had been listed by the United Nations Sanctions Committee. It was people in uniform from the highest threat echelons of the Pakistani Army and police mourning at the funeral of designated terrorists. This is the country that now says we are innocent. We did not do it. You do not mourn for people you do not know,' Tharoor said.

Tharoor stressed the motives behind the Pahalgam terror attack, stating that it was to undermine India and to undermine the economy of Jammu and Kashmir.

'This terrorist action was in pursuance of a cynical set of objectives that sadly only the Pakistani military seems to want to pursue to undermine our country, to undermine the Kashmiri economy, which was booming with tourism... I was told by my friend, the Indian Ambassador to Washington, that there were more tourists in this place in Kashmir in Pahalgam than in Aspen, Colorado,' Tharoor said.

Earlier in the day, Shashi Tharoor-led delegation on Wednesday (local time) met with the President of the Republic of Panama, Jose Raul Mulino, at the Presidential house.

The delegation led by Tharoor includes Shambhavi Chaudhary (Lok Janshakti Party), Sarfaraz Ahmed (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha), G M Harish Balayagi (Telugu Desam Party), Shashank Mani Tripathi, Tejaswi Surya, Bhubaneswar Kalita (all from BJP), Mallikarjun Devda (Shiv Sena), former Indian Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, and Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora. (ANI)