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Poland-India spar over neighbors in diplomatic meet

Poland-India spar over neighbors in diplomatic meet

Indian Minister of External Affairs Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski engage in a diplomatic meeting during the Polish minister's visit to India on January 20. 2025. (Jaishankar/X)

ISLAMABAD: The Indian Minister for External Affairs Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski engaged in a diplomatic row on Tuesday during the European minister’s visit to India, with Poland saying Indian participation in the Russian-led Zapad-2025 military drills was considered threatening by the European country. 


During Sikorski's visit to India, Jaishankar took a dig at the Polish foreign minister over Poland’s relationship with Pakistan. In an attempt to call out the Polish foreign minister’s visit to Pakistan last year, Jaishankar said that “selective targeting of India is both unfair and unjustified.” 


“Deputy Prime Minister, you are no stranger to our region and are more than familiar with the long-standing challenges of cross-border terrorism,” the Indian foreign minister said in a meeting with the counterpart.


“I hope at this meeting to discuss some of your recent travels to the region,” Jaishankar said, adding that the European country “should display zero tolerance for terrorism and not help fuel the terrorist infrastructure in our neighborhood.” 


While speaking to the press after the meeting, the Polish foreign minister said that all states have “regional concerns” regarding neighboring countries; however, he added that with neighbors, “you have opportunities and challenges.” 


“We also have concerns. India took part in the Zapad exercises in Russia that we find threatening,” the Polish foreign minister said.


He added that he was "very glad that we were able to discuss frankly what's on our minds."