Indecent remarks

INDIA’s hubris has been cut down to size by Pakistan’s rising relevance on the world stage. A serial violator of diplomatic protocols, the Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar stated recently that India cannot play the role of ‘broker’ in geopolitical affairs. Shockingly, he used a local term, which is an expletive in this region. The comment prompted a scorching reaction from the Foreign Office that said such terms “betray a deeper sense of frustration”, and “when arguments run thin, invective appears to fill the gap. Pakistan does not subscribe to such megaphone theatrics”. There was no shortage of criticism from politicians and journalists on both sides of the border either as they took to social media to heap scorn on Mr Jaishankar’s indecent remarks about Pakistan’s diplomacy. The list of absurd claims by the minister is long. Clearly, he prefers the ruling BJP’s aversion to Pakistan over sophisticated negotiations. Last year, after the military stand-off between the two countries, Mr Jaishankar said that India had the “right to strike Pakistan”, and accused Islamabad of employing “terrorism as an instrument of state policy”. In another equally bizarre instance, he saw Azad Kashmir as the “stolen part of Kashmir” that must be ‘returned’ to India for the issue to be “solved”.

While India nurses a very bruised ego, it is a good time to pose a question: did Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s offer to mediate between Russia and Ukraine make India a ‘broker’ nation? The truth is that New Delhi’s false narrative of victimhood has few takers. Poisonous rhetoric against Pakistan cannot conceal its own patronage of terrorists on Afghan soil, Balochistan and other parts of the world. Nor can it divert the global gaze from the oppression of its minorities, subversion tactics and targeted killings within its own territory. This setback should compel the country’s leadership to eschew violence as well as withdraw its support for Israel. Pakistan, on the other hand, has remained committed to dialogue, collaboration and restraint. Conversely, hostile language and posturing by New Delhi not only isolate India in the emerging global order but also keep it from pursuing a more temperate and humane path, in which both minorities and neighbours are treated with respect. In these tense times, diplomacy, not belligerence, will bring relevance and peace.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2026

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