India Slams Pakistan as Terror-Sponsor, Jaishankar Calls Islamabad “Broker” Nation

India on Wednesday (March 25, 2026) hit out at Pakistan as a terror sponsor with no locus standi to speak on its internal matters, even as External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar called Islamabad a “dalaal” (broker) for offering to mediate between the US and Iran in the West Asian war.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, in a statement, rejected Pakistan’s comments on the life imprisonment sentence to Kashmir separatist and terror supporter Asiya Andrabi after a Delhi court awarded the punishment for conspiracy to carry out terrorism and wage a war on India.

“We categorically reject the statement issued by Pakistan in support of a banned terrorist organisation and its members. Pakistan has no locus standi to comment on matters internal to India or its judicial processes,” Jaiswal said. His reaction came after Pakistan’s Foreign Office’s comments on the Indian judiciary pronouncing its judgment in a case against Andrabi.

“However, one is not surprised that a country, which has long been sponsoring terrorism, has come up with such a statement condoning violence and killing of innocent people. Instead of peddling lies and frivolous narratives, Pakistan should introspect on the grave and systematic human rights violations it continues to perpetrate,” the MEA spokesperson said.

Andrabi was awarded a life term in prison, while her associates Sofi Fehmeeda and Nahida Nasreen were slapped with a 30-year jail term. Delhi’s Karkardooma Court’s Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit Singh found the acts of Andrabi and her associates striking at the “very existence of India” by targeting secession of Jammu and Kashmir.

“The acts of the convict brought on record may not apparently be the direct cause of inciting violence, but infusing the minds of people, particularly the youth, with the idea that Kashmir is not part of India and India has occupied the Kashmir illegally and in a hostile manner can evoke sentiments which may lead them to adopt all kinds of methods, including violence,” the judge said in his order.

The judgment came in a 2018 National Investigation Agency (NIA) case, in which Andrabi’s proscribed Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM) used social media, public speeches, and other propaganda platforms to advocate Jammu and Kashmir’s merger with Pakistan. NIA had presented multiple pieces of evidence to strengthen its case that DeM was involved in unlawful activities, including stone-pelting.

Meanwhile, Jaishankar, briefing an all-party meeting in New Delhi, called Pakistan a “dalaal, for its offer to mediate in the West Asian conflict between the US-Israel combine and Iran, even as he indicated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi told US President Donald Trump that the war must end soon, as it was hurting the entire world.

As the Opposition parties were agitated over the impact of the war on India’s energy security, Jaishankar said Pakistan’s mediation offer was not new, as the US had been “used” since 1981, according to leaders who attended the all-party meeting at the parliament complex in New Delhi.

In an indirect attack on Pakistan for its ambitions to mediate the West Asian war, the Indian External Affairs Minister said: “We are not a dalaal nation.” The Indian government rejected the Opposition parties’ attack that New Delhi was not actively involved in settling the West Asian conflict. “We are commenting and responding,” it said.

While the Opposition parties attacked the government for displaying “moral weakness” in not condoling the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the US-Israel attack on February 28, the government referred to Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri visiting the Iranian embassy in New Delhi to sign the condolence book.

The government also noted that India had conveyed its primary concerns on the West Asian conflict, which included the Indian diaspora’s safety in the Gulf region and energy security to meet the needs of its citizens. It said India had been successful in this regard, as other nations understood Indian views on the war well.

The Opposition parties felt the government’s responses to their views on India’s role in West Asia were “unsatisfactory” and sought a debate in Parliament on the war. While Modi did not attend the all-party meet, the government was represented by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and Jaishankar, along with the Foreign Secretary.