‘Attacker and victim put on par’: S Jaishankar calls out UN, West on Kashmir, lists ‘culpable parties’

Arguing that there have been instances of unequal application of global rules since the end of World War II, Jaishankar cited Pakistan’s illegal occupation of a part of Jammu and Kashmir and said the “attacker and the victim were put on par”.

#WATCH | Raisina Dialogue 2025 | Delhi: At the ‘Thrones and Thorns: Defending the Integrity of Nations’ session, EAM Dr S Jaishankar says, “We all speak of sovereignty and territorial integrity. It’s a vital principle and a bedrock of global rules. After World War II, the… pic.twitter.com/1iygclSxqu

— ANI (@ANI) March 18, 2025

“After the second World War, the longest standing illegal…presence, occupation of a territory by another country pertains to India. What we saw in Kashmir,” he said.

“We went to the UN. What was an invasion was made into a dispute. So the attacker and the victim were put on par. Who were the culpable parties? The UK, Canada, Belgium, Australia, the US. So, pardon me, I have some question marks on that old order,” Jaishankar said.

Jaishankar batted for establishing a “strong and fair” United Nations and said global norms and rules must be applied uniformly. “We need a strong UN but a strong UN requires a fair UN,” he said. “A strong global order must have some basic consistency of standards,” he added. He called for the review of the existing world order. “I think it’s important to audit the working of the world for the last eight decades and be honest about it and to understand today that the balances, the share holdings in the world have changed,” he said. “We need a different conversation. We frankly need a different order,” he added.

Jaishankar said India’s stand on the world order is shaped by its role in the Global South, its democratic polity, market economy and respect for faiths, and its past record in navigating and adapting to a world which has not always been “kind to us”, he said.