It is not often that Pakistan's leaders praise India's foreign policy. But that is precisely what Prime Minister Imran Khan has been doing since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In his rallies mobilising support for his faltering government, he lauded India's ability to align with the United States while maintaining good ties with Russia.

Early last month, after several European envoys wrote a letter to his government urging support for the United Nations resolution condemning Russian aggression, an outraged Mr Khan demanded to know if the West thinks "Pakistan is a slave" to merely follow their orders. That the Pakistani Prime Minister has held up Indian foreign policy as a model of independence is one sign of the profound changes in the subcontinent triggered by the Ukraine crisis.