Indian External Minister for Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar came under heavy criticism from politicians for issuing spiteful remarks about Pakistan over the latter’s mediation role in the ongoing US-Israel war against Iran.
During an all-party meeting in India, Jaishankar said that India does not view itself as a “dalaal” (broker) like Pakistan, dismissing Pakistan’s efforts as a mediator between Iran and the US, The News reported on Thursday.
“There is nothing new in Pakistan’s mediation efforts, as that country has been ‘used’ by the US since 1981,” Jaishankar said during the all-party meeting convened by the government to discuss the ongoing West Asia crisis.
The development comes days after reports suggested that Pakistan is positioning itself as a key mediator to help broker an end to the US-Israel war against Iran through active back-channel diplomacy.
According to international media reports, Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir recently held a telephonic conversation with US President Donald Trump, with the White House also confirming the contact. Senior Pakistani officials have reportedly been facilitating communication between Tehran and key US interlocutors, including Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Reports also suggest that Islamabad is being considered as a potential venue for a high-level meeting between the United States and Iran later this week, with US Vice President JD Vance expected to attend if the proposal materialises.
Castigating the Indian foreign minister, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that Jaishankar thought of himself as “a hi-fi dalal”, adding that the remarks “reflect personal frustration”.
Meanwhile, Murtaza Solangi — who serves as President Asif Ali Zardari’s spokesperson — strongly condemned the remarks and said it seems Modi’s “Dalal, Jaishankar and his cabal have lost all their marbles after May War last year”.
“He [Jaishankar] seems to be infected with a self-destructive virus besides a diplomatic dementia losing everything he had learnt in the diplomatic school,” he wrote on X.
“Fact is that he is a Dalal of Modi who is a Dalal of Netanyahu,” he said, adding that Jaishankar’s mission to “isolate Pakistan” had ended up isolating India instead.
Separately, former caretaker foreign minister Jalil Abbas Jilani said that the use of such language by the Indian external affairs minister “reflects a sick mindset”.
“Reducing diplomacy to name-calling may serve domestic politics — but it does little for peace,” he wrote on X.
The former Sindh governor, Imran Ismail, said that the comment was “strange coming from someone whose foreign policy often looks like it’s constantly for hire”.
“India is actually selling their independence to the highest bidder. Do you know what [it is] called?” he added.
Former power minister Khurram Dastgir Khan condemned the “reprehensible” language used by Jaishankar, saying: “Pakistan was the nemesis to Hindutva hubris in May 2025 and remains so.”
‘Compromised’
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government came under fire over what the opposition described as the country’s isolation after siding with Israel ahead of the war.
Terming Modi and his foreign policy “compromised”, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has termed Modi and his foreign policy “compromised”, objecting to the PM’s references to the Covid pandemic when he spoke about the West Asia crisis in his speeches in Parliament this week.
“Modi ji said Covid-like time is coming. He has forgotten what had happened then, how many people had died, and what kind of tragedies had unfolded,” he said.
Asked about reports of Pakistan mediating US-Iran talks to end the ongoing war, Gandhi said: “Our foreign policy is PM Modi’s personal foreign policy. You can see the results of this; everybody considers this a universal joke.”
“I can give it to you in writing; PM will do what America and Israel say. He will not work in the interest of India and its farmers; he will do as America and Israel say.”
