Politicians, bureaucrats and journalists from both sides of the border took to social media on Thursday to criticise crude comments by India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar about Pakistan’s foreign diplomacy.
India Today reported on Wednesday that the foreign minister had said India “cannot act as a ‘dalal nation’ in global geopolitics”, in reference to concerns raised by the opposition over Pakistan mediating talks between the United States and Iran amid the ongoing Middle East conflict.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that Jaishankar thought of himself as “a hi-fi dalal”, adding that the remarks “reflect personal frustration”.
President’s Spokesperson Murtaza Solangi ripped into the Indian foreign minister’s lack of diplomacy, saying, “He seems to be infected with a self-destructive virus besides a diplomatic dementia, losing everything he had learnt in the diplomatic school.”
“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.
Pakistan’s former foreign minister Jalil Abbas Jilani said that the use of such language by the external affairs minister of India “reflects a sick mindset”.
“Reducing diplomacy to name-calling may serve domestic politics — but it does little for peace,” he said.
Former Sindh governor and former privatisation minister Mohammad Zubair said that he had “never heard a foreign minister stooping so low”.
He suggested that the comment reflected India’s “frustration at not having any role to play” in the conflict.
Another 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.
The former minister Engr. Khurram Dastgir Khan, called the language used by Jaishankar “reprehensible”.
“Pakistan was the nemesis to Hindutva hubris in May 2025 and remains so,” he said, alluding to a clash between the two countries last year.
The prime minister’s coordinator Rana Ihsaan Afzal Khan, meanwhile, turned the ‘dalal’ accusations back on India.
“Bro, you’ve been begging to mediate Russia-Ukraine, Qatar-everyone, even offering to ‘broker’ peace while sitting on Israel’s lap,” he said on X. “Now Pakistan actually delivers for US-Iran and suddenly ‘dalal’ is a bad word?
“Grapes aren’t just sour, Jaishankar… they’re fully fermented into cope.”
Journalist Asma Shirazi made the same allusion to the Indian foreign minister’s ‘sour grapes’ in her response.
“Grapes are sour and defeat is unforgettable,” she said, adding, “You lose the space day by day while going down like your jets.”
Journalist Gharidah Farooqi also called out the foreign minister for using such “bizarre” language as a high-level diplomat.
“India is frustrated and isolated,” she pointed out.
Journalist and commentator Baqir Sajjad Syed succinctly termed the comment “Delhi’s Epic Frustration”, an allusion to the US’ Operation Epic Fury.
The director general of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) Lahore, Ayesha Manzoor Wattoo, laughed at the language use, posting, “What an eloquent foreign minister India has, wah,” alongside clapping and laughing emojis.
“Now we know who’s behind global isolation and multiple failed fake narratives against Pakistan.”
Even Indians reacted negatively to Jaishankar’s comments. Indian journalist Smita Sharma criticised the statement, saying, “What kind of a language is this to begin with?”
An activist of the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC), Amit Mehra, said, “This isn’t a set of words meant for any nation, no matter what the situation is.”
Meanwhile, the All India Congress Committee’s media department chairman, Pawan Khera, pointed out the hypocrisy of the comment in the wake of Indian attempts to mediate the Russia-Ukraine war.
“Was India a ‘broker country’ when Modi was desperate to mediate between Russia and Ukraine?” he asked. “Selective brokering or selective memory?”
Journalist and Washington Post columnist Rana Ayyub highlighted that “if Trump had asked Modi to mediate, it would have been his entire election campaign this year.
“So please do not disguise this foreign policy failure as ‘dalali’!” she added.
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