Representative Image of Rafale fighter jets. / REUTERS/Samuel Rajkumar/File Photo

In the shadow of Kashmir’s snow-draped peaks, where the Jhelum River murmurs tales of strife, a ceasefire was born on May 10, 2025, only to be torn asunder by Pakistan’s suicide drones and defiant shells. 

The United States, a distant colossus wielding the scepter of mediation, orchestrated this fragile truce, its voice echoing through President Donald Trump’s Truth Social proclamation of peace. 

Yet, as Srinagar’s skies flickered with drone-borne menace and Jammu’s fields trembled under artillery fire, the ceasefire crumbled, a poet’s dream betrayed by a rival’s recklessness. 

Let us try tracing India’s seismic pivot from its sacred policy of bilateralism, its isolation save for a faltering Russia’s whisper, the loss of its terrorism narrative to Kashmir’s resurgent specter, and its solitary stand against a Pakistan buoyed by IMF gold. 

In this dance of power, pride, and betrayal, India’s concession to U.S. mediation reveals a nation caught between sovereignty and survival, its voice drowned in a world that no longer listens.

Also read: Pakistan violates ceasefire, undermining US credibility: Indian American

The Pivot: A Creed Betrayed

For generations, India stood as a fortress of resolve, its borders and disputes guarded by the 1972 Simla Agreement’s iron vow: no third party shall tread where India and Pakistan clash, especially over Kashmir’s contested heart. 

The United States, with its Cold War machinations and post-9/11 alliances, was held at bay, its mediation offers met with a steely gaze. 

In 1999, as Kargil’s heights bled, India spurned President Bill Clinton’s entreaties, forcing Pakistan’s retreat through bilateral might. 

The 2001 Parliament attack and 2008 Mumbai horrors saw India, under Vajpayee and Singh, reject U.S. envoys, choosing to isolate Pakistan rather than yield to foreign hands. 

In 2019, when Balakot’s skies roared after Pulwama’s grief, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared Kashmir an “internal matter,” silencing Trump’s mediation musings with a diplomat’s blade.

This was India’s creed: sovereignty over submission, bilateralism over betrayal. 

Yet, on May 10, 2025, this creed faltered. A terrorist attack on April 22 in Pahalgam, claiming 26 Hindu pilgrims, ignited India’s Operation Sindoor, a fiery assault on nine terrorist camps in Pakistan and PoK. 

Pakistan’s retaliation—Operation Bunyan-al-Marsoos—rained drones and missiles on Srinagar and Amritsar, pushing the subcontinent to the nuclear brink. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance, wielding diplomatic threads, wove a ceasefire, effective at 5 p.m. IST. 

India, under Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, acquiesced, a pivot from its no-mediation dogma. 

This was no mere concession but a fracture in India’s soul, driven by nuclear fears and a superpower’s insistence, yet heavy with the weight of forsaken pride.

A Lone Ally’s Meek Whisper

In this crucible of conflict, India sought allies to echo its cry against cross-border terrorism, but the world turned a deaf ear. Save for an embattled Russia, its voice weakened by Ukraine’s quagmire and sanctions’ chokehold, no nation fully stood by India’s side. 

Russia, a historic partner bound by MiG jets and BrahMos missiles, offered meek support, its Foreign Ministry murmuring condemnation of the Pahalgam attack but stopping short of endorsing India’s strikes. X posts noted Russia’s “cautious backing,” a shadow of its Cold War vigor, as it balanced ties with Pakistan and China. 

The Arab Gulf states, once neutral mediators, leaned toward Pakistan, their oil wealth tied to Islamabad’s strategic ports. 

China, Pakistan’s iron brother, fortified the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, framing India’s Operation Sindoor as “aggression.”
Even the U.S., India’s newfound ally, tempered its support, with Rubio’s mediation masking a pragmatic neutrality.

India stood alone, its narrative of righteous retribution—of striking terrorist lairs to avenge its fallen—unheard amid the din of global realpolitik. 

The Quad’s silence, the U.N.’s ambivalence, and Europe’s distraction with its own wars left India isolated, its plea for justice drowned by the world’s indifference. 

Russia’s faint nod, a relic of old loyalties, was a hollow comfort, underscoring India’s solitude in a crisis that demanded solidarity.

The Lost Narrative: Kashmir’s Resurgent Specter

India’s battle was not just military but narrative, a struggle to frame the 2025 crisis as a war against Pakistan’s cross-border terrorism. 

The Pahalgam attack, linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba’s shadow, was India’s clarion call, a justification for Operation Sindoor’s wrath. 

Yet, as drones fell and shells roared, the world’s gaze shifted to Kashmir itself, the disputed land India holds as its own. 

Pakistan, deftly wielding its victimhood, painted India’s strikes as an assault on PoK’s sovereignty, reigniting calls for Kashmiri self-determination. 

The U.S. mediation, framed as neutral, inadvertently amplified this shift, with Trump’s announcement sidestepping terrorism to focus on “peace in the region.” 

X posts from Pakistani accounts flooded with #KashmirBleeds, drowning India’s terrorism narrative in a sea of hashtags.

The international press, from Al Jazeera to BBC, pivoted to Kashmir’s history—Article 370’s revocation in 2019, the lockdown, the unrest—casting India as the aggressor in a land of unresolved dreams. 

India’s Ministry of External Affairs, once a master of framing, faltered, its press releases buried under global sympathy for Kashmir’s plight. 

The ceasefire’s collapse, marked by Pakistan’s drone attacks on Srinagar’s mosques and Jammu’s markets, only deepened this narrative, as images of civilian suffering eclipsed India’s claims of counterterrorism. 

Kashmir, not terrorism, became the story, a bitter pill for a nation that sought to avenge its dead but lost its voice to a rival’s cunning.

The IMF Vote: India’s Solitary Defiance

In the ceasefire’s aftermath, India’s isolation crystallized at the International Monetary Fund. 

On May 15, 2025, the IMF approved a $1 billion loan tranche for Pakistan, a lifeline for its faltering economy. India cast the sole negative vote, a defiant stand against a world propping up its adversary. 

The U.S., despite mediating the ceasefire, backed the loan, citing Pakistan’s strategic role in counterterrorism—a bitter irony given India’s accusations of Pakistan’s terrorist patronage. 

X posts raged at the decision, with Indian voices decrying the U.S.’s “double game,” but the vote stood, a testament to India’s lone battle. 

Pakistan, emboldened by IMF gold, fueled its drone assaults, its violations a middle finger to the truce India reluctantly embraced.

This solitary vote was more than policy—it was poetry, a nation’s cry against a world that rewarded its tormentor.
India’s stand, though futile, echoed its historic defiance, a reminder of its refusal to bend even as allies faltered and narratives slipped away.

The U.S. Hand: Catalyst and Curse

The U.S., with its pro-India tilt, is both India’s shield and its shackle. The Quad, $191 billion in trade, and Apache helicopters have fortified India’s might, emboldening strikes like Sindoor. Yet, this embrace has stoked Pakistan’s desperation, its drones a response to U.S.-backed imbalance. 

The Indian diaspora—4.5 million strong, with Nikki Haley’s voice and Hindu American Foundation’s clout—has woven India into America’s heart, while India’s $3.4 trillion market lures U.S. giants. 

But this alignment, meant to counter China, has lit South Asia’s fuse, with Pakistan’s violations a symptom of U.S.-driven alienation.

The ceasefire, a U.S. dream, collapsed under Pakistan’s drones, leaving America with a diplomatic wound. 

India’s pivot to mediation, a betrayal of its creed, yielded only a fractured truce, its narrative lost to Kashmir’s shadow. 

The U.S., humbled, learned that power cannot tame a region where history burns eternal.

A Poetic Reckoning

In the Jhelum’s ripples, India sees its reflection—a nation that pivoted from solitude to a superpower’s embrace, only to find isolation anew. Russia’s meek nod, the world’s turned backs, and Kashmir’s stolen narrative haunt its soul. The IMF vote, a lone stand, sings of defiance, but Pakistan’s drones mock the ceasefire’s lullaby. 

The U.S., with its gilded promises, stands bloodied, its mediation a fleeting verse in a saga of strife. India, caught between pride and pragmatism, must ask: can it reclaim its voice, or will it drift in a world where peace is but a broken dream, shattered by the hum of drones in the Himalayan dusk?

 

(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of New India Abroad)