Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar came under heavy criticism from politicians for issuing malicious remarks about Pakistan over the latter’s mediating role in the ongoing US-Israeli war against Iran.
During an all-party meeting in India, Jaishankar said that India does not see itself as a “dalaal” (mediator) like Pakistan, rejecting Pakistan’s efforts to mediate between Iran and the US, The news reported Thursday.
“There is nothing new in Pakistan’s mediation efforts as this country has been ‘used’ by the US since 1981,” Jaishankar said during the party meeting convened by the government to discuss the ongoing crisis in West Asia.
The development comes days after reports suggested Pakistan is positioning itself as a key broker to help mediate an end to the US-Israel war against Iran through active back-channel diplomacy.
According to international media reports, Chief of Army Staff and Defense Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir recently held a telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump, with the White House also confirming the contact. Senior Pakistani officials reportedly facilitated communications 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 US and Iran later this week, with US Vice President JD Vance expected to attend if the proposal materialises.
Criticizing the Indian foreign minister, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said Jaishankar considered himself “a hi-fi dalal”, adding that the remarks “reflect personal frustration”.
Meanwhile, Murtaza Solangi – who serves as President Asif Ali Zardari’s spokesman – strongly condemned the remarks, saying it appears that Modi’s “Dalal, Jaishankar and his cabal have lost all their balls after the May war last year”.
“He [Jaishankar] appears to be infected with a self-destructive virus in addition to a diplomatic dementia losing everything he had learned in diplomatic school,” he wrote on X.
“The 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 the Indian foreign minister’s use of such language “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 the comment was “strange from someone whose foreign policy often seems like it is constantly for rent”.
“India is actually selling their independence to the highest bidder. 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 of Hindutva hubris in May 2025 and remains so.”
‘Compromised’
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government came under fire for what the opposition described as the country’s isolation after siding with Israel ahead of the war.
Labeling Modi and his foreign policy “compromised”, Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi has labeled Modi and his foreign policy “compromised” and objected to the prime minister’s references to the Covid pandemic when he addressed the crisis in West Asia in his speeches in Parliament this week.
“Modi ji said that a 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 brokering talks between the US and Iran to end the ongoing war, Gandhi said: “Our foreign policy is Prime Minister Modi’s personal foreign policy. You can see the results of this; everyone considers this a universal joke.”
“I can give it to you in writing; the Prime Minister will do what America and Israel say. He will not work in the interests of India and its farmers; he will do what America and Israel say.”
