Dr Shazia Anwer Cheema
“Operation Sindoor” and “Operation Bunyan-al-Marsous” are over, leaving numerous diplomatic indicators for Islamabad and New Delhi for analytical reviews.
For Islamabad, the message is that it needs to work hard in Central Asian republics and in Afghanistan, which refrained from supporting Pakistan. Central Asian states include Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.
For New Delhi, the reality check is discouraging and dismaying as it is facing “grave diplomatic isolation”. Forget the Global North, India did not even find support within neighboring countries.
The Indo-Pak ceasefire is not permanent, and both countries realize it well. It had averted immediate disaster and opened a window for dialogue. New Delhi is refusing to use this window while admitting it had to accept a ceasefire, but “without giving any commitment” to address the root cause of the regional unrest, that is, the Kashmir issue. Can the world afford to wait until acceleration starts again? In a region marked by deep-seated bitterness, ceasefires are never just about halting gunfire, they are signals of restraint, tactical pause, or strategic recalibration.
The first half of May 2025 brought Indian neighbors to the brink of disaster and sent a reality check to India that none of its neighbors stood with New Delhi. Even pro-Indian western media is writing that, being a hegemon neighbor, India did not find any moral support from neighboring countries that decided to stand away from New Delhi. In Bangladesh, anti-India sentiment is already high, weakening Dhaka’s willingness to align with New Delhi on strategic matters. Sri Lanka faced the brunt of Indian cross-border terrorism for decades, and now has already realigned with China, so it remains neutral. China’s deepening footprint in Colombo further constrains Sri Lanka’s room for maneuver. Nepal, since 2018, has had unpleasant diplomatic ties and border disputes with India, although it is heavily reliant on Indian remittances. Kathmandu showed neutrality because it is now part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), while India does not accept BRI as a legitimate economic initiative. Bhutan also decided to refrain from passing any pro-Indian statement. The Doklam standoff (2017) between China and India impacted Bhutan-India relations, which had already shifted its pro-Indian foreign policy to neutrality with a growing desire for greater autonomy in its foreign affairs. The Maldives also refrained from supporting India because it has historically maintained a neutral stance in the regional conflicts between India and Pakistan.
New Delhi is calling its diplomatic fiasco “Chinese pressure,” while Nepali, Bangladeshi, and Sri Lankan newspapers claim this situation is earned by India due to its last decade’s thoughtless foreign policy towards neighboring countries and considering them as “inferior”. It may be remembered that India magnificently managed to postpone the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit in Pakistan in 2016 through Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, and now it is left alone with only one SAARC country that is not bordering India, and it is Afghanistan.
In the past, SAARC countries refrained from using the word “Kashmir” during all SAARC Summits, but now they know Kashmir is at the Centre Stage in the UNSC. It looks that they are no more afraid of “wrath of India” because their media is discussing the Kashmir issue extensively.
India’s neighborhood comprehends that New Delhi’s diplomatic isolation is also due to social segregation that the BJP is following, and Indian foreign policy is being operated under the shadow of a powerful Hindutva policy that retains stringent control over national security.
The BJP has cultivated a narrative positioning itself as the guardian of Hindus, leaving no place for other religions, and even not for every Hindu, but rather only for Puritan Hindus. The RSS-driven politics have destabilized democratic institutions in India, and except for Brahmins, everybody has been marginalized.
Indian opposition has not been taken into confidence while shaping foreign policy, so its opposition is loud in saying that India has failed diplomatically during its war with Pakistan. Multi-party opposition claims ceasefire brokered by external actors has compromised Indian sovereignty. Additionally, the military defeat at the hands of arch rival Pakistan is portrayed by Indian opposition parties as “the Fall of India”.
In an attempt to mitigate the political isolation, Indian Prime Minister Modi decided to take the opposition on board and included opposition members of parliament in delegations visiting 33 countries with 59 members in total. The Modi government assigned the delegations to cover separate regions, such as North America, Central America, South America, North Africa, West Africa, South East Asia, East Asia, West Asia, and Europe. Interesting names include Sierra Leone, Congo, and Latvia. Even this move has not ease Modi government as Congress leaders are of the view that India spends a huge amount on Foreign Affairs and PM Modi will be remembered in Indian history who left almost no country on earth where he did not visit during his tenures (since 2014) but the miserable isolation what India is facing nowadays is unimaginable if it is compare to spectrum of Modi’s foreign visits.
He visited at least one time 41 countries including Argentina, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brunei, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Fiji, Greece, Guyana, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Mexico, Mongolia, Mozambique, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Palestine, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Rwanda, Seychelles, Spain, Sweden, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Vatican City and Vietnam.
Countries that were visited by Modi twice are 14 that include Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Italy, Kazakhstan, Laos, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, Qatar, South Korea and Switzerland.
He had three trips to eight countries that include Bhutan, Brazil, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Thailand, United Kingdom and Uzbekistan.
He had four trips to Sri Lanka, five trips to China, Nepal, and Singapore; six trips to Germany, seven trips to Japan, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates, eight trips to France (may be for Dassault Rafale deal), and 10 trips to the United States.
Expenditures of PM Modi’s foreign trips are under discussion among Indian independent media, while the Indian government is not releasing data about the expenditures incurred on Narendra Modi’s foreign trips from May 2014 to March 2025. Available data from government statements, news reports, and reasonable projections show that total expenditure on Narendra Modi’s foreign trips from May 2014 to March 2025 is estimated to be around $450-500 million. This is a rough estimate that the media is sharing based on available data. India provides $2.8 billion to its Ministry of External Affairs, while expenditures on international tourism and cultural engagements are not included in this figure. Indian federal ministries of information and culture, as well as 28 states in the Indian Union (provinces), spend over $1.2 billion on international road shows, foreign engagements, cultural and tourism events, etc. Figures suggest that India spends almost $4 billion annually in the diplomatic sphere. Public diplomacy through educational institutions has a separate budget that is difficult to calculate, as every university spends its budget as required.
Should India not be a case of “failed diplomacy” for students of International Relations?
Note: The writer is an author and Doctor of Philosophy in Semiotics and Philosophy of Communication from Charles University, Prague. She can be reached at shaziaanwer@yahoo.com
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The views and opinions expressed in this article/Opinion/Comment are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the DND Thought Center and Dispatch News Desk (DND). Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of the DND Thought Center and Dispatch News Desk.
