New Delhi, March 21 The damage being inflicted on the combatants, the neighborhood, and the wider region, including to India, due to the West Asia conflict has "crossed all acceptable limits" and it must be stopped, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has said.
Interacting with reporters on the sidelines of an event here on Friday, Tharoor said that he has always been "in favor of the doves" in this particular conflict and most conflicts.
He was asked to comment on the hawkish remarks emanating from both sides regarding the West Asia conflict, which began three weeks ago with no apparent end in sight.
"This is a serious issue. It's not a small matter; it's affecting the lives of ordinary Indians and people everywhere. I think we should be part of (efforts), and ideally, we should lead an international effort to bring this war to an end. Many countries will join us. No one wants to see this war continue," he said.
Tharoor said the conflict was "hurting a lot of us" who have nothing to do with it.
"And I think the time has come now for both sides to step back from their positions. They need our help, they need our encouragement, and that of other countries. I hope we will play our part," the former Union minister of state for external affairs said.
He said there was a need to see this conflict end.
"If you saw the appeal from the Omani foreign minister, it's a very important gesture. I think many countries are saying that we absolutely have to bring this war to a close. It's doing far too much damage, and it's not clear at all what good it's doing to anyone," he emphasized.
He was also asked if, in this environment of "hawks," there was a need for some "doves" who want to see de-escalation.
"I've obviously been someone who has been in favor of doves, in this particular conflict and in most conflicts. War is a futile activity. In fact, I spent a lot of years in peacekeeping at the UN, and I can tell you that soldiers are the last ones who want to see wars. They know how much horror, how much suffering, how much true loss is involved. No one wants to see war continue," he asserted.
When you talk to soldiers who have lived through fighting and killing, they will share with you the anguish it means, the Congress MP said.
"I think that it's one thing to be forced to defend your country. It's something else to continue prosecuting a war in which people are dying every day, innocent people are dying, school children have been killed, all sorts of innocent people are losing their lives, frankly, for what," he asked.
"I think at this point, the damage being done everywhere, to the combatants, to the neighborhood, and then to the wider region, including to India, has crossed all acceptable limits. It must be stopped," Tharoor said.
The conflict is affecting India, it's affecting many other countries in the region and beyond because now, as oil prices go up and gas supplies go down, you're looking at problems facing everyone, he said.
He was also asked about fellow Congress leader Shama Mohamed's post on X on Friday regarding the fewer number of tickets given to women candidates.
"I have been for some time very much in favor of greater women's representation," he said.
"And I'm sorry to say, I do agree that when women make up half the population, they only get 9.8 per cent of the seats, that's not fair. But again, those who made these decisions, and I'm not one of them, I'm not part of the selection process for candidates. But all I can say is that those who've done that must have taken all factors into account. And they claim that ultimately, they were guided by winnability, and that's a principal thing," Tharoor said.
"But when women's reservation comes, I think that'll be the end of these debates, and we will see a fair opportunity for more hardworking women leaders," he added.
