The joke is on us

How Pakistan Became a Key Broker in the US–Israel–Iran War - Frontline
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The joke is on us
Modi’s personalised diplomacy has left India isolated, while Pakistan, backed by China and the Gulf, plays peacemaker in West Asia. And the world is laughing along.
Published : Mar 26, 2026 12:52 IST - 6 MINS READ
Aditya Sinha Aditya Sinha is a writer living on the outskirts of Delhi.
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External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar speaking at an event in March 2026. Pakistan maintains formal alliances with China, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, strengthening its role in regional diplomacy.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
One feature of the current US-Israel war on Iran is how Pakistan ’s glory keeps rising in the world. This is despite the release of yet another toxic and illiterate Bollywood blockbuster, painting Pakistan as a rogue state, and despite the BJP narrative that Pakistan is a “ bhikari ” (beggar) country. Pakistan’s importance contrasts with the failure of India’s foreign policy, which the Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi characterised as a “universal joke”.
It should not be a surprise, as Pakistan is backed by three key countries: China, biding its time on the sidelines, has always been Pakistan’s “all-weather” friend; Saudi Arabia, which inked a defense pact with Pakistan and which is accused of egging US President Donald Trump on to continue the war so as to “remake the region”; and the UAE, the oasis of tax havens and adult fun, and a puppet of Israel since the 2020 Abraham Accords. The UAE keeps about $2 billion in short-term deposits in Pakistan to help keep its economy running.
Pakistan Field Marshal Asim Munir likely offered his services to the US for peace talks after it became obvious that America made a strategic blunder. Iran has called Trump’s five-day ceasefire and 15-point proposal for peace “fake news”, believing Trump is stalling while 5,000 US troops get into position to fight for control of the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran is literally twice bitten, attacked in June 2025 and on February 28, during peace negotiations, as the Omani Foreign Minister has attested. Instead of Steve Witkoff (US envoy to the Middle East) and Jared Kushner (architect of the Abraham Accords), CNN says Iran prefers Vice President J.D. Vance, a long-time non-interventionist, as the American interlocutor for potential talks in Islamabad.
Few expect anything substantive from the process in Pakistan, but that’s hardly the point. No one in the world except India (and Afghanistan) seems to think Pakistan is a rogue state. Pakistan’s population of 245 million is about 20 per cent Shia, who have suffered thanks to both government crackdowns and Sunni terrorists; something the Shia-dominated Iran would have taken note of. Also, though Pakistan is Iran’s neighbour, it is closer to Türkiye, and neither is a great pal of Iran. And yet Munir’s peace offer has found traction, for the Pentagon has an old relationship with the Pakistan Army.
India could have played a role in peace, given its historical ties with Iran, its 70 years of independent foreign policy, and its 30 million-strong Shia voice. Instead, Trump called Prime Minister Narendra Modi this week to keep him in the loop on the talks. Trump sees international negotiations as business deals, and the transactional President has no use for history, subtlety, or loyalty.
India, the lone soldier
How did India get so isolated in the world? It’s solely thanks to Modi and his personalised diplomacy. He visited Israel on February 25-26, just two days before the surprise attack, ostensibly to wish Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu for the coming offensive. It’s reminiscent of Jeff Epstein’s email about Modi’s 2017 “singing and dancing” visit to Israel. The February visit did not go unnoticed by the world.
Modi’s calls recently to Iranian and Gulf Cooperation Council leaders have tried to be ambiguous in their condemnation of attacks and calls for peace: they could apply to either Israel or to Iran. This too has not gone unnoticed by the world. That Modi never took his country into confidence while making momentous changes to long-standing foreign policy—arriving in Parliament only after the nation was faced with a domestic cooking gas crisis and departing without facing questions—was also noticed by the rest of the world.
The only ones oblivious to India’s freefall in the world are Modi’s supporters. They continue to sing paeans to their leader’s omnipotence, the way they were certain in February 2022 that Modi would immediately end the Russia-Ukraine war. (It still continues.)
No wonder the world believed Pakistan during the May 2025 conflict with India, when it claimed to have won. Trump took credit for the ceasefire; Pakistan happily agreed, even nominating him for a Nobel Peace Prize. One wonders if India would have suffered less humiliation, vis-a-vis tariffs and the diktats on buying Russian oil, if Modi had also played along. He was unable to do so, for then the jingoist Bollywood films would cease.
Ironically, Modi agreed to a lopsided trade deal days before US Supreme Court voided Trump’s tariffs; Modi agreed to stop buying Russian oil, which was unsanctioned, shortly after, when the Strait of Hormuz closed. Russia’s discounts now go to Pakistan, not India.
Even if the peace talks don’t happen or are a failure, Pakistan has scored another diplomatic win. Modi and his gang may adore Israel, but Iran is reducing Tel Aviv to a Gaza-like rubble. It is poetic justice considering Israel’s barbarism towards Palestinians; just this week came the report of an 18-month-old baby being tortured with cigarette burns on its legs, to obtain the father’s compliance; and of a teenager starved to death in an Israeli prison, his death merely a statistic in the 70,000 Gazans eradicated by the unrepentant Zionists.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) will continue to dream of the break-up of Pakistan, but it’s unlikely that the world will let it happen. Pakistan may remain in financial dire straits, and if the Gulf is changed forever by this war, then workers’ remittances may drop, adding to the pressure on its economy. India may hope that Afghanistan continues to trouble Pakistan’s western border, but ultimately that will stop, because the two nations are co-religionists and someone more powerful than India may influence Afghanistan.
Even America won’t always favour India over Pakistan, for no matter what happens in this war, the US’ domestic politics will increasingly force it to look inwards and vacate global spaces that China can fill. In the long run, India is no bulwark against China. India ought to abandon its “universal joke” of a foreign policy and return to the blueprint bequeathed by our visionary first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
P.S.: The External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s remark, that we are not a “broker country”, showed jealousy rather than principle.
Aditya Sinha is a writer living on the outskirts of Delhi.
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