S Jaishankar argued that a truly strong global order cannot exist without consistency and fairness in its approach.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar delivered a hard-hitting speech at the Raisina Dialogue 2025 on Tuesday, questioning the global order and the West while highlighting the long-standing Kashmir issue at global forums such as the United Nations.
Speaking at a session titled ‘Thrones and Thorns: Defending the Integrity of Nations’ , Jaishankar described India as the “victim” of the “longest-standing illegal occupation” since World War II, pointing to Pakistan’s invasion of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947. He criticised the UN’s “failure” to condemn Pakistan’s actions, arguing that the attacker and the victim were unjustly placed on equal footing.
“After World War II, the longest-standing illegal presence and occupation of a territory by another country pertains to India in Kashmir. We went to the UN. What was an invasion was made into a dispute. The attacker and the victim were put on par,” Jaishankar said drawing attention to the historical handling of the Kashmir issue, without naming Pakistan.
Jaishankar added that he had some “question marks” on the topic as he listed who he calls the “culpable parties” in the matter namely, UK, Canada, Belgium, Australia and the United States.
“We speak today of political interference. When the West goes out into other countries, it’s in pursuance of democratic freedoms. When other countries come into the West, it seems to have a very malign intention,” he remarked, highlighting the uneven application of principles depending on the region.
Jaishankar also argued that a truly strong global order cannot exist without consistency and fairness in its approach.
“If we need to have an order, there must be fairness… We need a strong UN but a strong UN requires a fair UN… A strong global order must have some basic consistency of standards,” he asserted.
The Union Minister also pointed out the selective global responses to political upheavals across regions. “We have military coups to our east in Myanmar, they are a no, no. We have them even more regularly to the West where they seem to be okay. It’s important to audit the workings of the world for the last eight decades and be honest about it,” he said.
Jaishankar also stressed that the world’s power structures and equities have shifted, necessitating a different conversation.
“We need to understand today that the balances and the shareholdings in the world have changed. We need a different conversation. We need a different order,” he added.
