NEW DELHI: External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday raised questions about the uniformity of global standards concerning sovereignty, political interference and territorial integrity.
Speaking at Raisina Dialogue, Jaishankar emphasised the importance of establishing an “fair and strong UN” and advocated for reviewing global governance frameworks, noting that power dynamics have evolved and require acknowledgement.
The minister also highlighted what he described as historical injustices and selective application of rules by Western nations.
Jaishankar pointed to Kashmir as an example, stating that India experienced the longest-standing illegal presence and occupation following World War II, yet the situation was reduced to a diplomatic disagreement.
“We all speak of sovereignty and territorial integrity. It’s a vital principle and a bedrock of global rules. 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.
“Who were the culpable parties? UK, Canada, Belgium, Australia, USA? So pardon me, I have some question marks on that whole topic… 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 added.
Jaishankar said that for a global order to be effective, it must be based on principles that are applied equally to all.
“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. We have military coups to our east in Myanmar, they are a no, no,” Jaishanker said.
“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 and 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.
