Title: Engaging the
Islamic world
Author: C. Raja Mohan
Publication: The Hindu
Date: January 6, 2000
The Prime Minister, Mr.
Atal Behari Vajpayee, in his statements immediately after the end of the
hostage crisis, pointedly referred to the fact that many Islamic nations
had strongly condemned the hijacking of IC 814. The External Affairs Minister,
Mr. Jaswant Singh, has hinted at the co-operation India received from some
key Islamic countries during the crisis.
The Government needs
to go beyond that simple acknowledgement and initiate a sustained engagement
with the Islamic nations in the region to contain the forces of extremism
and terrorism that have taken root in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The call
for political co-operation with the Islamic world in the nation's war against
terrorism will seem counter-intuitive. It will certainly come up against
the popular stereotypes in India, as elsewhere in the world, about Islam
and terrorism.
While it will take a
long time to change the public perceptions identifying all terrorism with
Islam, it is time the Government fostered a serious study of the complex
situation in the Islamic world and an understanding of the dynamics of
religious and political discourse there. The first task is to educate our
own national security establishment - obsessed as it is with the grand
global themes and the minutiae of nuclear treaties - which remains virtually
illiterate about the political currents under its nose in the region.
But why should the Islamic
countries support New Delhi in its war against terrorism, particularly
when a leading Islamic country like Pakistan is involved in a perennial
conflict with India? Have not the Islamic countries blindly supported Pakistan's
position on Kashmir at the Organisation of Islamic Conference? What basis,
indeed, is there for co-operative efforts between India and the Islamic
nations against terrorism?
The answers to these
questions are fairly simple. First, peace and stability in the Islamic
world today are threatened by the rise of the extremist forces that have
taken to terrorism in the name of religion. Second, the Afghanistan-Pakistan
area has become a safe-haven for terrorists trying to undermine many states
in the Islamic world - from Algeria to Tajikistan. Third, the collapse
of the state in Afghanistan and its degeneration in Pakistan have given
rise to concerns in the Islamic world about the instabilities radiating
from there and an appreciation of the need for collective action to combat
terrorism.
Any nation will agree
to collective action against a particular threat only when its own interests
are challenged. This is as much true of the Islamic world as it is of India.
Deeply affected by terrorism since the mid-1980s, New Delhi today has become
a vocal champion of counter- terrorism. But this has not always been India's
policy. When the Western nations bitterly complained about terrorism since
the late 1960s, India's attitude was dismissive. New Delhi demanded that
the West pay attention to solving the basic political problems in the Middle
East. The Islamic nations, too, were largely unconcerned about international
terrorism so long as it happened elsewhere. But today as terrorism begins
to affect them, the attitudes towards terrorism have radically changed
among the Islamic nations.
Two decades ago, when
the Soviet Union sent its forces into Afghanistan, much of the Islamic
world joined the United States and Pakistan in seeing the problem as a
conflict between Islam and Communism. But the consequences of pitting Islamic
fundamentalists against the "Godless Communists" have today come to haunt
both the West and the Islamic nations. The forces of Islamic radicalism
that were mobilised in the Afghan war have now turned their sights on the
West and many of the regimes in the Islamic world. Today, the infrastructure
for terrorism and extremism in Afghanistan and Pakistan has become a magnet
for all the disgruntled forces in the Middle East, Central Asia, the Persian
Gulf and the Subcontinent. Using Islam as a cloak and taking advantage
of the sympathetic political environment in Kabul and Islamabad, these
elements have begun to wage a jihad against many nations.
It is essential for India
to see the problem of terrorism as a question of regional peace and stability.
It has very little to do with religion. Nor is it necessary for India to
be seen as adopting a conscious policy of isolating Pakistan. For the Afghan
policy adopted by Pakistan has already put it at odds with much of the
region.
Pakistan's deliberate
promotion of a variant of Sunni radicalism, fusing it with Pushtun ultranationalism,
has given birth to the Taliban which challenges the ideology as well as
the regional interests of the Shia Islamic Revolution in Iran. The Taliban's
brutalisation of the Shia and Persian-speaking minorities in Afghanistan,
and its determination to cut Iran out of the petro-politics of the region,
has put it in direct confrontation with Iran. The two sides came close
to a war in late 1998.
One of the consequences
of Islamabad's Afghan policies has been an accentuation of sectarian violence
between Shia and Sunni militant groups inside Pakistan and the unprecedented
murder of Iranian diplomats in Afghanistan.
The Taliban's relations
with Sunni Saudi Arabia are doing no better. Although Saudi Arabia is one
of the three countries (other than Pakistan and the UAE) that recognised
the Taliban Government, relations have since cooled.
The principal political
target of Osama bin Laden is the House of Sand, and the Taliban's sanctuary
to his forces has not impressed Riyadh. Further West, Egypt and Algeria
are among the countries in the Middle East that are affected by the forces
of international terrorism based in Pakistan and Afghanistan. To the North,
Central Asian Republics are frightened by the spill over of terrorism and
narcotics trafficking from Afghanistan. These fragile nations of Islamic
faith are hard-pressed to cope with the growing attacks by domestic opposition
groups who have shelter and support from the Taliban.
The extremist threats
to peace and stability have altered the political discourse in the Islamic
world, encouraging regimes of different persuasion - from the conservative
to the radical - to recognise the importance of working together to defeat
the new messianic forces. Coupled with the fears of growing external intervention
and the divisive tendencies within the many developing countries, key Islamic
nations have increasingly stressed moderation and reconciliation.
The new rapprochement
between Saudi Arabia and Iran in favour of greater regional stability augurs
well for an Indian initiative for more intensive political co-operation
with both. Riyadh and Teheran have called for a "dialogue among civilisations"
to foster a better understanding within the region and the world.
Saudi Arabia has also
emphasised three important principles that open the door for an Indian
engagement with the Islamic world. First, an unequivocal rejection of extremism
and terrorism in all forms. Second, the need for tolerance of other religions
and the avoidance of sectarian conflict within Islam.
And finally there is
the call for a new sensitivity in the Islamic approach to minorities. The
Saudis have called for respect for the rights of non-Muslim minorities
in the Islamic countries. They have stressed the importance of Muslim minorities
in non-Muslim nations staying loyal to their own states. Recognising the
dangers of fragmentation if the minorities are allowed to secede in the
name of religion, the Saudis have now begun to appreciate the importance
of preserving larger territorial entities accompanied by a respect for
the rights of minorities.
The evolution of the
political discourse against extremism in the key Islamic nations augurs
well for India. Many of them see India as a responsible power that is wedded
to regional stability. If India can shed its inhibitions in dealing with
the Islamic world, it should be possible to build a solid regional coalition
with the Islamic nations to isolate and contain the forces of terror and
destabilisation.
