“Jaishankar Slams West’s Silence: Terrorism Will Return to Haunt You, Just Like Osama in Pakistan”

“Osama Felt Safe in Pakistan—That Should Worry the West Too”: Jaishankar’s Blunt Terrorism Warning.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has issued a stern message to the global community, urging it to recognise that India’s recent confrontation with Pakistan is not a mere bilateral dispute, but a broader fight against terrorism—one that will inevitably impact the West as well.

In an interview with European news platform Euractiv, Jaishankar reacted sharply to the limited global response to the Pahalgam terror attack in Kashmir, which killed 26 people. He criticised efforts to frame such attacks as isolated regional tensions.

“Let me remind you—there was once a man named Osama bin Laden. Why did he feel safe living for years in a Pakistani military town, next to their version of West Point?” Jaishankar asked. “This isn’t just an India-Pakistan issue. It’s about terrorism. And that very terrorism will eventually come back to haunt you.”

His remarks come during his visit to Europe, roughly a month after India launched Operation Sindoor in retaliation to the Pahalgam attack. In Brussels, Jaishankar held high-level meetings with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, reinforcing India’s positioning as a trusted global partner.

“India, a nation of 1.4 billion, offers skilled labour and a more dependable economic partnership than China,” he said, pitching India as a strategic ally amid the ongoing EU-India free trade negotiations.

Addressing the Russia-Ukraine war, Jaishankar reaffirmed India’s principled neutrality. “We don’t believe war resolves differences. But we’re also not here to prescribe solutions—it’s not our way,” he said, adding that India maintains strong relations with both Russia and Ukraine.

Jaishankar also offered a pointed reflection on Western hypocrisy. “Just months after our independence, our borders were violated. And which nations supported that aggression? Western ones,” he noted. “Those who now champion international principles were evasive back then.”

He reiterated India’s call for a multipolar world order, noting that Europe itself is now discovering the need for “strategic autonomy”—a concept India has long advocated.

On EU climate policy, Jaishankar expressed clear opposition to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). “Let’s not pretend—we oppose aspects of it. One part of the world setting standards for everyone else is simply unacceptable.”

When asked about the prospect of dealing with a second Trump presidency, Jaishankar stayed pragmatic: “I take the world as I find it. Our goal is to advance every relationship that serves our interests—especially one as critical as our ties with the U.S. It’s not about who’s president.”

On China, he noted a rising trend among European companies reassessing supply chains and data security. “Businesses today are thinking twice about where their data lives. They prefer reliable, secure ecosystems—like India.”