The trilateral summit of Azerbaijan, Türkiye, and Pakistan held in Lachin, with the participation of Ilham Aliyev, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Shehbaz Sharif, was not only a major foreign policy event in the region but also became a real headache for the Indian press. As expected, the reaction ranged from nervous to outright hysterical.
Leading Indian outlets rushed to label the meeting as an “anti-India alliance,” accusing the Baku–Ankara–Islamabad trio of having no foreign policy goal other than to spite poor but proud India. It seems New Delhi genuinely believes that global politics revolves entirely around its geographical insecurities.
One headline from an Indian platform stood out in particular: “India is going to destroy Azerbaijan without firing a single shot.” It sounds almost heroic—if not for the fact that India struggles to supply weapons even to its own allies. It’s like the Azerbaijani proverb: “The rooster thinks the sun rises because it crows.” Does New Delhi truly believe that helping Yerevan will make Baku “collapse in fear”? Especially considering that not long ago, India failed to deliver even a promised batch of weapons to Armenia on time.
To grasp the absurdity of the narrative, one need only read this already meme-worthy quote from the Indian press:
“A strategic alliance is forming between Türkiye, Azerbaijan, and Pakistan, aimed against India… Azerbaijan is in conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, and if India helps Yerevan, it will destroy Azerbaijan without a single weapon.”
Let’s start with the obvious: the conflict in Karabakh is over. Baku knows this for sure, Yerevan has already come to terms with it, but New Delhi still seems to be watching 2020 newsreels. Furthermore, plans to “destroy Azerbaijan” appear especially absurd against the backdrop of recent failures of the Indian army—both in clashes with Pakistan and in border tensions with China. The image of a “great military power” has cracked, and while attempts are made to glue it back together, it’s better to refrain from grandiose threats.
Then there’s a purely practical point: arms deliveries to Armenia worth $1.5 billion—including Akash surface-to-air missile systems—have been frozen. According to Armenian media, the Indian state company Bharat Electronics Limited postponed shipment of the second batch. The reason is simple: yet another spike in tensions with Pakistan. Apparently, the missiles are being held back for “domestic use.”
But behind all this seemingly comical rhetoric lies something more troubling. The Indian side—both officials and the media—are essentially admitting that New Delhi’s goal is not regional stability, but the destabilization and militarization of the South Caucasus. This is especially absurd given that India has no geographical, historical, or cultural ties to this region whatsoever. Yet it desperately wants to be a “global player,” even if that means inventing threats and meddling in foreign conflicts.
And this sums up the essence of official New Delhi in recent years: maximum pomp, minimum real policy. It’s easier to claim that you are “destroying Azerbaijan without weapons” than to admit your arms deals are falling apart and your weapons can’t protect your allies—or even yourself.
All of this feels less like serious geopolitical analysis and more like dialogue from a Bollywood thriller:
— You’re surrounded!
— No, you’re surrounded!
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan, Türkiye, and Pakistan are building actual bridges, infrastructure, energy and transport corridors.
India, on the other hand—just another headline.
Maksud Salimov
Translated from minval.az
