THE ASIAN INDEPENDENT UK
Bal Ram Sampla
Geopolitics
When the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28, 2026 — killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and plunging the Middle East into open war — most eyes turned to the usual diplomatic powers: the Gulf states, Europe, China. Nobody expected Pakistan to matter. Yet within weeks, Islamabad had become the most important back-channel in the world, quietly ferrying messages between Washington and Tehran at a moment when almost no one else could.
To understand how this happened, you have to understand what Pakistan uniquely offers. It is the only Muslim-majority country with nuclear weapons. It shares a 900-kilometre border with Iran. It has deep, decades-long ties with Saudi Arabia. Its army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, has been called Donald Trump’s “favourite Field Marshal” — and Trump meant it warmly enough to host him for a two-hour lunch at the White House last June.
At the same time, Iran’s new Supreme Leader publicly said he had a “special feeling” for the Pakistani people. Both sides trusted Islamabad. That is extraordinarily rare in any war, let alone this one.
“Pakistan has relayed America’s 15-point ceasefire proposal to Tehran. It has offered Islamabad as the venue for US-Iran talks. And it has done so while simultaneously fighting its own war against Afghanistan.”
The traditional mediators — Oman and Qatar — came under Iranian missile fire as the conflict widened, removing them from the table. Into that vacuum stepped Pakistan, activating relationships it had spent years carefully cultivating. Its Foreign Minister engaged in shuttle diplomacy. Its intelligence services reportedly delivered American proposals directly to Iranian officials. CNN and the Financial Times both reported Pakistan as the live channel between Washington and Tehran. Trump himself said “great progress” was being made — and Pakistan was the reason why.
The Country That Stayed Home
Now consider India. On paper, India had everything Pakistan had, and more. A larger economy. Deeper trade ties with the Gulf. A long-standing relationship with Iran, including a strategic port project at Chabahar. Good relations with the United States.
India’s Foreign Minister, S. Jaishankar, is widely considered one of the sharpest diplomatic minds of his generation.
And yet India sat out the most consequential diplomatic moment of the year.
Why? Because India’s recent foreign policy choices had quietly closed the doors that Pakistan kept open. New Delhi had deepened its ties with Israel through the I2U2 grouping — a strategic partnership with the US, Israel, and the UAE. It had slowed investment in Iran’s Chabahar port under American pressure. Prime Minister Modi had visited Israel shortly before the war broke out, a trip the opposition called a “betrayal” of India’s traditional non-aligned foreign policy.
The Word That Said Everything
On March 25, India’s parliament held an all-party briefing on the West Asia crisis. Opposition politicians asked the obvious question: Pakistan is at the negotiating table — why isn’t India? Jaishankar’s answer was blunt, and it became the story.
“Hum unki tarah dalali nahi kar sakte” — “We cannot act as brokers like them.” He called Pakistan a dalaal nation. In Hindi and Urdu, dalal means a middleman or broker — but it carries a contemptuous edge, implying someone who runs errands for others for a fee, someone without agency or dignity of their own.
The word backfired immediately. Pakistan’s Defence Minister shot back that Jaishankar was himself “a hi-fi dalal.” A presidential spokesperson said that Jaishankar’s campaign to isolate Pakistan had ended up isolating India instead. From Islamabad’s point of view — and from much of the watching world’s point of view — the remark revealed not India’s superiority, but its frustration.
“The man who built his career on ‘strategic autonomy’ had reduced himself to name-calling — while Pakistan hosted foreign ministers and relayed peace proposals.”
The Asia Times put it sharply: India’s dismissal of Pakistan’s role revealed a country “more consumed by regional rivalry than global responsibility.” Critics at home agreed. Congress leader Tariq Anwar called India a “mute spectator.” Rahul Gandhi said the government’s foreign policy was compromised. Even Jaishankar’s own framing — that Pakistan had merely been “used” by America since 1981 — sounded hollow when America was using Pakistan to potentially end a war.
What Being a Broker Actually Means
There is a deeper irony buried in the dalal insult. Norway brokered the Oslo Accords. Switzerland has built its entire international identity on neutral mediation. Qatar — tiny, exposed, directly threatened by Iranian missiles — still maintained its role as a peace facilitator. Nobody calls these countries brokers with contempt. They are called indispensable.
Pakistan’s situation is not without its own contradictions. It faces enormous risks from its role — a fragile economy, a 900km border with an Iran that could turn hostile, a domestic population deeply sympathetic to Tehran, and a Saudi defence pact that pulls in the opposite direction. It is simultaneously fighting its own shooting war with Afghanistan. The balancing act is almost impossibly difficult, and there is no guarantee it will succeed.
But Pakistan is trying. It is at the table. And India — the larger, richer, supposedly more diplomatically sophisticated nation — is watching from outside and calling its neighbour names.
The Iran war is still ongoing. Pakistan’s mediation may yet fail. But the moment has already revealed something lasting about South Asian geopolitics: that in a crisis, the country with the most relationships wins — not the country with the most pride.
References
1.https://www.theresearchers.us/2026/03/25/dalal-india-not-broker-jaishankar/
2.https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/24/pakistan-ready-to-host-us-iran-talks-can-latest-peace-push-work
3.https://www.nbcnews.com/world/asia/pakistan-iran-peace-talks-war-afghanistan-rcna265252
4.https://thediplomat.com/2026/03/how-pakistan-is-redefining-middle-power-agency-in-the-us-israel-war-on-iran/
5.https://www.military.com/daily-news/2026/03/27/why-pakistan-has-emerged-mediator-between-us-and-iran.html
