‘Not Expecting Neighbours To Do Only What’s In My Interest’: Indian External Affairs Minister Jaishankar On Bangladesh, Pakistan, China

[Ali_Baba]

‘Not Expecting Neighbours To Do Only What’s In My Interest’: External Affairs MinisterJaishankar On Bangladesh, Pakistan, China​

August 23, 2026, 11:02 IST

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said India’s relations with its neighbours must be based on mutual interest, as he spoke about ties with Bangladesh, Pakistan and China amid continuing regional tensions.

Speaking at the Economic Times World Leaders Forum, Jaishankar said India did not expect neighbouring countries to always act in New Delhi’s interest. He said relationships work when both sides are able to find common ground.

‘It Has To Work For Them, It Has To Work For Us’​

Jaishankar was responding to a question on Bangladesh’s demand for the extradition of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, amid reports that Dhaka has linked Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s possible visit to New Delhi to the issue.

He declined to discuss the details of the talks between India and Bangladesh but said bilateral ties had to pass the “test of mutual interest".

“What I can tell you is for any relationship to work, it has to meet the test of mutual interest. It has to work for them, it has to work for us," Jaishankar said. He added that India was realistic about its neighbourhood and did not expect other countries to do only what was in its interest.

“There has to be a fair degree, a reasonable degree of my recognising and respecting what is their interest, just as I expect them also to do so," he said.

Jaishankar said that once the two sides found a “landing point" or “common ground", relations could move smoothly. He said the principle of mutuality applied to India’s relations with all its neighbours.

Tarique Rahman Visit In Focus​

India has invited Rahman for a bilateral visit and also to attend the upcoming BRICS Summit in his capacity as chair of the Bimstec grouping.

Plans for a visit next week fell through at the last minute. India and Bangladesh are now in touch to arrange the visit later this month or in early September, people familiar with the matter said.

Rahman’s visit is seen as important for efforts to reset India-Bangladesh ties, which have faced unprecedented strains. Hasina’s presence in India has remained a key irritant in the relationship.

Pakistan Is ‘Unique’ On Terrorism​

On Pakistan, Jaishankar said the Indian government could not ignore public opinion, particularly over terrorism. He said people in India viewed Pakistan as a country that “does not empathise with us, does not understand our point of view" on terrorism.

Asked about improving Pakistan-US relations and their possible impact on India, Jaishankar said the US and Pakistan had a long history of relations.

But he singled out Pakistan for its use of terrorism against India.

“Pakistan is unique not because it’s a neighbour of India… It is unique because in this day and age, there is no other country which uses terrorism so systematically and in such a sustained manner to attack and pressure another neighbour," he said.

India Will Factor In Makkah Pact​

Jaishankar also discussed the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement signed by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye. He questioned what the agreement had achieved in response to the “live military situations" faced by its signatories. At the same time, he said India would take the pact into account while assessing its security environment.

“In my calculus, everything counts, everything will have a weight…and sometimes things need to play out," he said.

He added that everything done by a player who was “not well disposed towards me" would form part of India’s calculations.

‘Peace On Border’ Key To China Ties​

On China, Jaishankar reiterated that the situation along the border would determine the broader relationship between the two countries.

He said India and China were both large economies, part of supply chains, markets for each other and engaged in economic interaction. Both also had a political and strategic interest in maintaining a stable relationship.

Jaishankar said the two countries had gone through a particularly difficult period between the summer of 2020 and autumn of 2024, which he attributed primarily to the situation in the border areas.

“At the end of the day, peace and tranquillity in the border areas is a prerequisite for good relations," he said.

He also acknowledged reports of Indian businesspeople facing difficulties in obtaining Chinese visas and said the matter had been raised with Beijing.
Jaishankar said India needed to strengthen its capabilities while continuing to engage with the entire world, including China.

“The world is competitive, we must build up our strengths," he said, adding that India must deal with China confidently and “stand our ground", as it had done on the border.

Mr laser eyes has been quiet for sometime, and now these "pearls of wisdom".. lol,,

 

[Neojinnah]

Read it fully

Basically, "we are the biggest victims in the world and therefore we get to squat on this land because it belonged to [insert random ancient ruler] thousands of years ago"

This picture makes so much more sense now. Sanatan truly is the Zionism of South Asia

 

[Vikramaditya1]

Yes sir. Re-read very carefully.

He is asking us to empathise with a subjective perspective, a "POV" as you put it, no longer with objective truths.

Well, we don't give a damn about Jayshanker's personal opinions. Did we ever?

No, he is saying you're a country that does not empathize not asking you to, two different things. He is infact making a statement like I said. You're devoid of any empathy.

If you didn't give a damn about it, you wouldn't be writing about it. Regardless, he is EAM, in here he controls foreign policy.

 

[Raj-Hindustani]

Imagine this scenario - A bigoted Muslim prince starts slaughtering his Hindu majority kingdom's inhabitants. His subjects start fighting back and Pakistan swoops in to save him and grabs all the land, claiming it as its own. Even though the inhabitants have nothing in common with Pakistanis and don't want anything to do with them, they are told their land is an integral part of Pakistan.

This is what happened to Kashmir. Can you find an equivalent scenario like the one above which gives India the right to start making more territorial claims, as if they're not already unjustly squatting on vast swathes of land???

Your analogy is conveniently missing the parts of Kashmir’s actual history that don't fit your narrative.
If a Muslim ruler, Hindu ruler, Buddhist ruler, or anyone else historically ruled a territory, that doesn't magically give another country ownership of it. And if religious demographics are enough to justify territorial claims, then congratulations—you've just opened Pandora's box for half the world's borders.

By that logic, every country can start digging through centuries of history, find some ruler or religious majority that suits them, and announce: “This was ours, therefore it is ours again.”
That's not a principle. That's cherry-picking history to justify the conclusion you've already decided on.
And before lecturing others about “squatting” on territory, maybe acknowledge that Kashmir's history isn't a children's story where Pakistan simply arrived as the heroic liberator and India randomly stole the land. The actual history is considerably messier

So your entire argument is basically: “Kashmir had a Muslim-majority population, therefore Pakistan gets to claim it.”
Fine. Then apply that principle consistently.
If religious demographics automatically give a country the right to annex territory, you’ve just created a rule that could be used to redraw borders all over the world. And if you don't accept that rule everywhere, then it's not a principle—it's just a convenient argument you're using for Kashmir.
Historical rulers, religion and demographics can all be discussed, but none of them gives you a magic “this land belongs to us” card.

 

[SABRE]

Yep then they play innocent .

Tensions with China, China fault.
Tensions with Pakistan, Pakistan fault.
Tensions with Bangladesh, Bangladesh fault.
Tensions with Nepal, Nepal fault.

Well at least they get on with their smallest neighbour Bhutan.

& That's Bhutan's fault

 

[Neojinnah]

By that logic, every country can start digging through centuries of history, find some ruler or religious majority that suits them, and announce: “This was ours, therefore it is ours again.”
That's not a principle. That's cherry-picking history to justify the conclusion you've already decided on.
And before lecturing others about “squatting” on territory, maybe acknowledge that Kashmir's history isn't a children's story where Pakistan simply arrived as the heroic liberator and India randomly stole the land. The actual history is considerably messier

No, this is not my logic. My logic is very simple. The majority population in Kashmir wanted to join Pakistan. The bloodthirsty Hindu tyrant ruling over Kashmir slaughtered them to prevent Kashmir from going to Pakistan. India stepped in to save this tyrant, take the land for themselves, and then subject the locals to a crushing decades long occupation.

Many Indians employ the logic you ascribe to me. They argue Kashmir had "Hindu roots", therefore they get to grab all the land. I don't endorse this kind of logic.

 

[Master Chief]

No, he is saying you're a country that does not empathize not asking you to, two different things. He is infact making a statement like I said. You're devoid of any empathy.

If you didn't give a damn about it, you wouldn't be writing about it. Regardless, he is EAM, in here he controls foreign policy.

For your benefit, I have lifted this excerpt from the article:

"He said people in India viewed Pakistan as a country that “does not empathise with us, does not understand our point of view" on terrorism."

Feel free to run this through any grammar check or AI of your choice if clarity continues to elude you on its plain English interpretation.

He is stating that Pakistan has failed to empathise with and/or understand the Indian point of view.

Hitherto, Pakistan has not been asked to empathise with and/or understand the Indian perspective. Hitherto, Hindustan has acted without concern or regard for whether Pakistanis "empathise with" and/or "understand" anything that India says or the consequences of India's unilaterality. Pakistan's emotional mannerisms or responses or predications have always been irrelevant and indeterminate in India's decision making calculus - or at least this is what we were led to believe by esteemed establishment representatives on this very forum, your good self included.

Going forwards, is this another one of those "new normals" that we should now remain aware of?

 

[hydrabadi_arab]

Jaishankar has been sidelines post operation sindoor debacle.

 

[Master Chief]

Your analogy is conveniently missing the parts of Kashmir’s actual history that don't fit your narrative.
If a Muslim ruler, Hindu ruler, Buddhist ruler, or anyone else historically ruled a territory, that doesn't magically give another country ownership of it. And if religious demographics are enough to justify territorial claims, then congratulations—you've just opened Pandora's box for half the world's borders.

By that logic, every country can start digging through centuries of history, find some ruler or religious majority that suits them, and announce: “This was ours, therefore it is ours again.”
That's not a principle. That's cherry-picking history to justify the conclusion you've already decided on.
And before lecturing others about “squatting” on territory, maybe acknowledge that Kashmir's history isn't a children's story where Pakistan simply arrived as the heroic liberator and India randomly stole the land. The actual history is considerably messier

So your entire argument is basically: “Kashmir had a Muslim-majority population, therefore Pakistan gets to claim it.”
Fine. Then apply that principle consistently.
If religious demographics automatically give a country the right to annex territory, you’ve just created a rule that could be used to redraw borders all over the world. And if you don't accept that rule everywhere, then it's not a principle—it's just a convenient argument you're using for Kashmir.
Historical rulers, religion and demographics can all be discussed, but none of them gives you a magic “this land belongs to us” card.

Don't be ridiculous. What matters is the status of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir immediately prior to August 1947. What did its people want and what didn't they want?

As a wild guess, I would say they didn't want to be massacred and expelled by the colonially installed and maintained regime of Hari Singh.

Don't go off topic ffs. There are plenty of threads where you can have your ass handed to you regarding the events of 1947.

 

[Master Chief]

Jaishankar has been sidelines post operation sindoor debacle.

Goswami will be on his back after this latest slip of the tongue.

 

[Starlord]

The only 2 countries in the region that uses Terrorism as state policy is Afghanistan and India, but like the unpardh dehati aurat they cry at every chance they get, but no no India never done nuffin wrong.

 

[retaxis]

The only 2 countries in the region that uses Terrorism as state policy is Afghanistan and India, but like the unpardh dehati aurat they cry at every chance they get, but no no India never done nuffin wrong.

Maybe next time there is a big terrorist attack, pakistan should claim self defence and destroy some indian military bases along the border. Would be good test to see what the Mecca partners will provide in support.

All gcc has to do is 1. Kick out ten million + indians in gcc and create unemployment crisis in india and withdraw their money out of india and jack up oil prices to india. India has to pay the price because alternative would be shipping oil from Canada and america which will cost 3x more.

 

[Starlord]

Maybe next time there is a big terrorist attack, pakistan should claim self defence and destroy some indian military bases along the border. Would be good test to see what the Mecca partners will provide in support.

All gcc has to do is 1. Kick out ten million + indians in gcc and create unemployment crisis in india and withdraw their money out of india and jack up oil prices to india. India has to pay the price because alternative would be shipping oil from Canada and america which will cost 3x more.

Been a smaller country with weak economy and internal divisions, we won't be able to act as rashly as Indians do, I wish we were in a position where we can, because there is plenty of evidence of Indian support to BLA/TTP both are internationally recognized terrorists groups and have killed thousands of Pakistani's, but becuase you have more cockroaches aka Indians, so they often time control the online narrative, West let their state sponsor terrorism slide in because they want India to be the counter for China, well that turned out to be pretty hilarious lol.

 

[retaxis]

Been a smaller country with weak economy and internal divisions, we won't be able to act as rashly as Indians do, I wish we were in a position where we can, because there is plenty of evidence of Indian support to BLA/TTP both are internationally recognized terrorists groups and have killed thousands of Pakistani's, but becuase you have more cockroaches aka Indians, so they often time control the online narrative, West let their state sponsor terrorism slide in because they want India to be the counter for China, well that turned out to be pretty hilarious lol.

I think millions of fpv drones going into Kashmir can give those indians some real ptsd if they want to keep playing terrorism. Just lure india into doing something stupid as modi tends to do and then u can claim self defence and the money and equipment will role in from saudi/gcc and Turkey. China 'overcapacity' will be perfect for a few million fpv drones following indians around in Kashmir while you shoot down any indian drones or jet fighters approaching pakistan airspace.

 

[Starlord]

I think millions of fpv drones going into Kashmir can give those indians some real ptsd if they want to keep playing terrorism. Just lure india into doing something stupid as modi tends to do and then u can claim self defence and the money and equipment will role in from saudi/gcc and Turkey. China 'overcapacity' will be perfect for a few million fpv drones following indians around in Kashmir while you shoot down any indian drones or jet fighters approaching pakistan airspace.

India knows damn well that a war with China not only means that they lose Arunachal but also Kashmir. That's why India do everything to avoid a conflict with China, even when China beat 20+ of their soldiers to death. Their bravdo only works on Pakistan now as they know we have Afghanistan (Backstabbing cu*ts) who constantly attack us, so they now become friends with Taliban to harm Pakistan, they tried fighting Pakistan in 2019 got their backside beaten up, they tried to fight China and they humiliate India, and they tried again with Pakistan in 2025, now they just going around like a broken record crying for sympathy over Terrorism when they are the biggest country with state sponsor terrorism that is messing up entire South Asia, and barring its success.