An invasion by Pakistan was turned into a dispute by West: Jaishankar at Raisina Dialogue

At the Raisina Dialogue, India’s External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, spoke candidly about the need to work for establishing an international order in the same way as governments try to maintain domestic order. He gave examples of the West’s hypocrisy in dealing with problems, particularly of the Global South, explaining how an invasion of Indian territory by Pakistan was converted into a territorial dispute between the two countries.

Speaking on the West’s approach to the Kashmir issue, Jaishankar said India has the presence of the longest illegal presence or occupation of a foreign power in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh — where territories were illegally occupied by Pakistan through invasion in 1947, only two months after India was partitioned at Independence, and by China through the decades of 1950s and 1960s.

He also spoke about the West’s geopolitics of convenience with regard to Afghanistan’s turbulent political landscape in the view of Taliban’s rise, fall and rise over the past few decades. Jaishankar emphasised the role of the West in shifting the narrative of Pakistan’s invasion of Kashmir from an act of aggression to a diplomatic dispute. He said, “We went to the UN over what was an invasion. It was turned into a dispute… Attacker and victim were put on par. Who were the culpable parties? Australia, Canada, Belgium, the UK and the USA”

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Jaishankar pointed out the hypocrisy in international diplomacy, noting that countries like Australia, Canada, Belgium, the UK, and the USA were complicit in this misrepresentation. He recalled how India’s appeal to the United Nations was met with an equalisation of culpability, despite the clear aggressor being Pakistan.

In his comments on Afghanistan, Jaishankar also criticised the West’s inconsistent approach, drawing attention to the paradoxical situation where the same Taliban leaders who were welcomed in the Doha and Oslo processes are now being denounced for Afghanistan’s deteriorating situation. He quipped about how the Taliban, once considered extremists, were now dressed in suits and ties, yet still regarded as a serious international concern.

Jaishankar’s remarks brought attention to the ongoing contradictions in global politics, where nations often wear a diplomatic veneer over unresolved issues.