 "‘No one has supported... as much as West’: Jaishankar slams Western backing of Pakistan’s military regimes")
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that no one has supported Pakistan’s military regimes and undermined its democratic processes as consistently as Western countries.
According to a PTI report, in an interview with Danish newspaper Politiken, Jaishankar criticised Europe for backing Pakistan when it was under military dictatorship, suggesting that such support weakened democratic institutions in the country.
He also identified terrorism as one of the world’s most pressing collective challenges, alongside climate change and rising poverty, emphasising the need for unified global action to address these threats.
“Our borders have been violated by Pakistan in Kashmir ever since our independence in 1947. And what have we seen in the eight decades since then,” PTI quoted Jaishankar as saying during the interview.
“That large, democratic Europe, to use your own term, has stood side by side with military dictatorships in the region.” “No one has supported the military regime - and undermined democracy in Pakistan in so many ways - as much as the West,” he added.
The external affairs minister made these comments during his visit to Copenhagen as part of his three-nation tour of the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany.
Jaishankar emphasised that India supports countries’ sovereignty and internationally recognised borders.
“But my worldview and my view of Europe are shaped by my own experiences. You talk about the inviolability of borders - well, why don’t we start with the inviolability of my borders?” “That’s where my world begins. But we’ve always been told that we had to solve that ourselves,” he was quoted as saying.
Jaishankar made the remarks in response to a question about why democratic India continues to buy large quantities of oil from authoritarian Russia, even as Moscow wages war against Ukraine.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsAddressing the criticism, Jaishankar argued that Europe’s actions — specifically its increased sourcing of crude oil from the Middle East — have contributed to a surge in global energy prices, impacting developing countries like India.
He defended India’s oil purchases from Russia as a necessary economic decision, highlighting the need to balance national interests amid rising costs and global instability.
“Wealthy Europe turned to the Middle-East because it had a problem with Russia and offered inflated prices to get oil redirected to Europe.” “So what happened was that many countries – not just us - could no longer afford it. The major oil companies didn’t even respond to purchase offers because they were too busy selling to Europe,” Jaishankar was quoted as saying.
“What was the rest of the world supposed to do? Say ‘okay’, we’ll just do without energy because Europeans need it more than us,” he asked.
Jaishankar also described terrorism as a major global challenge.
“Of the major collective challenges today, I would place terrorism at the top - alongside climate change, growing poverty, and the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Global South,” he said.
In a separate interview with Danish broadcaster TV 2, Jaishankar clarified that the May 10 understanding between India and Pakistan to halt fighting and military actions was reached directly through communication between the two countries’ armed forces.
His remarks came in response to US President Donald Trump’s claim that Washington played a role in mediating the ceasefire — a claim India has consistently denied.
“We had the conflict for a few days (and) we resolved that conflict for the moment in its particular military form through an understanding for the cessation of fighting and military action. And this was something that we negotiated directly between the militaries of the two countries,” he said.
“The trigger for it was that after we had had fighting for a few days, we hit them very hard on the morning of (May) 10..and that caused the Pakistanis to say, ‘Ok, we’re prepared to stop the firing and reach an understanding about how to deal with it.’”
Under Operation Sindoor, India carried out precision strikes on nine terror infrastructures early on May 7 in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
Following the Indian action, Pakistan attempted to attack Indian military bases on May 8, 9 and 10. The Pakistani attempts were strongly responded to by the Indian side.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on May 10 announced that India and Pakistan reached an understanding to stop all firings and military actions on land, air and sea, with immediate effect.
With inputs from agencies
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