Introduction
The West is drawn to India just as moths are to light. In June 2023, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the joint session of the U.S. Congress for the second time, a privilege previously bestowed upon Winston Churchill during the period of World War II. To understand such friendly relations with India and the Western support for India, it is important to consider the relevant history briefly. To begin with, Asia has always been a center of attraction for the West owing to the former’s sheer economic value and trade status.
For the past 2000 years, India and China remained the world’s two largest economies, and the Silk Road reigned supreme. Contrarily, the rise of Europe and the United States is a recent phenomenon, not older than a couple of centuries, says Kishore Mahbubani in his book Has China Won?. The attraction of this subcontinent was so great that during the blockade of the trade route, the present-day Suez Canal, by Sultan Mehmed II, the much-coveted Indian spice trade led to the discovery of not only America but also the trans-Pacific trade route.
The Western Partisanship
A tipping point came in 1947 when bloc politics were rapidly emerging in the international arena. The British, to please Nehru, deliberately demarcated the border of Pakistan in a way to give Muslim majority areas to India, and laid the seed of the separation of East and West Pakistan. Moreover, despite opting for the Soviet bloc, India remained the West’s darling. Even when India conducted nuclear tests in 1974, Europeans and Americans turned a blind eye to it. Instead, the U.S. administration increased its vigilance on Pakistan.
Pressure was exerted on the government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to abstain from following the pursuit of India as suggested by Feroz Khan in his book, Eating Grass: The Making of the Pakistani Bomb. Furthermore, the U.S. passed the Symington Amendment (1977) and the Glenn Amendment (1978) to exempt India and Israel from sanctions related to nuclear proliferation. After India conducted the second nuclear tests in 1998, the same attitude was observed in the West. In 2000, Bill Clinton visited for 6 days, the longest visit by any sitting president of the United States, and in 2005, the U.S. and India signed a nuclear agreement allowing India to access nuclear technology and fuel despite not being a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
India has also remained one of the preferred investment destinations for the West. A thorough analysis shows a pattern of investments with unhidden bias. A relevant evidence is the partiality of the West in funding projects under the Clean Development Mechanism, as per the Kyoto Protocol, in India. The concentration of these projects in India has been widely criticized by the global community as the abuse of CDM. Contrarily, the more deserving, economically weak countries in the region, such as Pakistan and Afghanistan, were ignored. The same is true for other economic aspects.
Globally, India has emerged as the 3rd largest recipient of FDI. Among the major factors for this is the preference of India by the West as an anti-China force. Technological investments and development are another area in which the country is blessed by the West. Amazon is planning to invest $30 billion in India by 2030, Apple is making India its manufacturing hub, Google has created the “Google for India Digitalization Fund,” and Microsoft has established one of its largest R&D centers outside the U.S. in India.
Supporting Indian Militarization
Missile development is another domain in which the Western support for India is apparent. Pentagon views India as a regional ally against China. It believes that the military strength of India is indispensable for the United States’ containment policy of China. Consequently, India has been allowed to develop advanced missile systems such as the recently developed Agni-V Intercontinental Ballistic Missile with independently targetable re-entry vehicle (MIRV) capability. Successful tests were conducted on 11 March 2024.
Similarly, in January 2024, an enhanced version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, developed jointly with Russia, was launched by the Indian Navy. In comparison, Pakistan has faced multiple sanctions by the U.S. in recent years over the country’s missile programme. The most recent being on December 18, 2024. This dual approach is disrupting the balance of power in the region.
Apart from the missile development programmes, India also remains a spoiled child of the West in terms of weapon acquisition. The recent report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) suggests that India is the largest importer of arms in the world after Ukraine. However, it warrants attention that, unlike India, Ukraine is in a state of war. Around 39% of these imports come from Russia, the West’s arch-nemesis, but Europeans and Americans seem to be unconcerned by this fact.
The U.S. is also arming India to the teeth. This creates a dilemma for Pakistan as around 80% of India’s weapons, including nuclear warheads, and 90% of military command and control structures are deployed against Pakistan and not China. Again, there is no concern shown by the United States as to why India is acquiring weapons for countering China, but using them against Pakistan.
Overlooking Indian Terrorism
Assassinations and terrorism supported by India have also been overlooked by the West. Under the BJP’s administration, RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) has been emboldened to breach the sovereignty of other countries for their nefarious Hindutva ideology. However, their incompetence has exposed them to the international community. On 18 June 2023, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader, was assassinated outside a gurdwara in Canada. Justin Trudeau, the former prime minister of Canada, explicitly linked the Indian government with that act.
Similarly, RAW has also been involved in a murder-for-hire plot against Pannun in New York City. The U.S. Department of Justice charged an Indian intelligence service, Vikash Yadav, in October 2024. Such acts are more prominent in Pakistan, where India is carrying out assassinations and supporting terrorist organizations, such as BLA and TTP, regularly. On April 29, 2025, the press conference of D.G. ISPR, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, presented irrefutable evidence in this regard. Despite all the evidence presented by Pakistan and the blatant acts committed in Canada and the U.S., the West has applied no sanctions on India. This is a clear indication of the West’s unhidden favoritism for India.
Pakistan’s Dilemma
All of these create a dilemma for Pakistan. To begin with, Pakistan is being diplomatically isolated in the international arena, especially in Europe and the United States. This is in line with India’s isolationist agenda, a brainchild of Narendra Modi’s government, for Pakistan. Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar admitted that India was responsible for putting Pakistan on the FATF’s grey list in 2018. Moreover, efforts were also carried out to isolate Pakistan at the European Commission. Furthermore, campaigns were carried out to malign Pakistan by calling the country a terrorist state. Consequently, Pakistan has to pay a heavy price as such narrative building creates a trust deficit and distorts the image of a country at international forums.
Secondly, due to the West’s bias, the Kashmir issue remains unresolved. Kashmir has become a proverb to describe something near impossible to work out. Although a part of this is because of India’s absurd claims and stubbornness, the lack of interest shown by the West toward the plight of Kashmiri Muslims is a significant factor. Despite several resolutions passed by the United Nations regarding the Kashmiri people’s right to a plebiscite, the West failed to pressure India to honour the UN Charter and uphold international human rights. Even after the events of 5 August 2019, when India invalidated the special status of Kashmir by revoking the Article 35A and Article 370, the West remained silent. This is the major reason for the lingering Kashmir issue and the subsequent conflict between India and Pakistan.
The economic imbalance between Pakistan and India is also partly due to the West’s preference for the latter. In many aspects, India is allowed to do business with much ease than Pakistan. A relevant example is that while India was allowed to import energy from Russia during the earlier phase of the Russia-Ukraine war, Pakistan was strictly prohibited from doing so. The United States exempted India from sanctions imposed on Moscow. The Indian-American congressman, Ro Khanna, articulated the argument that India should be allowed to import Russian oil to bolster its economy for counterbalance China.
Similarly, India continued to import oil and gas from Iran, while Pakistan was threatened with sanctions if it continued with the completion of the Iran-Pakistan Pipeline project. It has been aptly stated by Noor Alam Khan, the chairman of Pakistan’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in 2023, “The USA will have to do away with double standards—being lenient with India in meeting its energy needs while punishing Pakistan for the same.” Apart from energy energy-related economy, India’s growing economic clout is not organic. Such exponential growth is a result of the influence of the West, particularly the United States. This creates problems for Pakistan to match its economic output with that of India.
Adopting a New Path
In this context, Pakistan needs to develop an effective strategy to balance the rising influence of India and the partiality of the West. It is high time Pakistan let go of its illusion of being a Western ally. The current circumstances and history call for a renewed diplomatic engagement with countries that are reliable partners. Pakistan must further its strategic and economic linkage with China and Russia to move from a developing country to a developed one. Deep alliance with China has become a survival need for Pakistan to achieve a balance of power with India. Chinese weapons and technological advancements have become a necessity for Pakistan. This is especially true in the wake of recent military exchanges between India and Pakistan in May 2025.
Moreover, there is a great need to explore new markets by establishing trade relations with the Central Asian Republics, the ASEAN region, and the African Union. These regions remain untapped by Pakistan. Building tangible economic ties with these countries will work as a buffer against the volatile economic policies of the Western countries that are known for their whimsical and unilateral sanctions. During the 23rd SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) Heads of Government Summit in Islamabad, this attitude of the West was rightly recognized by Pakistan. However, a mere realization is not enough. A proper policy must be made, followed by its rigorous implementation.
Pakistan should also widen its political clout in Europe and America. This can be achieved by utilizing the Pakistani diaspora, just as India is doing. Globally, Pakistan ranks 6th in terms of its diaspora. Approximately, 1.5million people of Pakistani ethnicity live in the UK, 398,065 in Europe, and 580,000 in the United States. Several members of the Pakistani diaspora are working in important positions, such as the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. Some members of the House of Commons are also Pakistani, including Shabana Mahmood, who is the lord chancellor and the secretary of state for justice. Moreover, the former first minister of Scotland, Hamza Yousaf, is also of Pakistani origin.
Similarly, in the United States, several people of Pakistani ethnicity are in influential positions, such as the members of the House of Representatives, and media personalities like Arooj Aftab and Kumail Nanjiani. Pakistan must make engagement with its diaspora a part of its foreign policy. This is indispensable for a potent soft power. In short, Pakistan needs a multi-pronged strategy to counter India in the region, as well as Western support for India on the international stage, and restore the balance of power.
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