Author: Afzaal Mahmood
Publication: Dawn, Karachi
Date: April 30, 2001
As part of a new thrust in its foreign
policy, India is making determined efforts to turn a new leaf in its relations
with the key countries of the Islamic world. The importance that the Muslim
world, stretching from the Maghreb in North Africa to Indonesia and Malaysia
in Southeast Asia, has come to acquire for India can be gauged from the
diplomatic blitzkrieg undertaken by New Delhi in the past six months.
Jaswant Singh was in Saudi Arabia
in January on the first ever visit of an Indian foreign minister; President
Boutefleka of Algeria was the chief guest at India's Republic Day celebrations
this year; Prime Minister Vajpayee visited Indonesia recently and will
soon be in Malaysia on an official visit; he has just concluded a high-profile
visit to Iran and his Home Minister L.K. Advani is due to set out shortly
on an official visit to Turkey.
Last year, Turkey's Prime minister
Bluent Ecevit, Indonesia's President Abdurrahman Wahid and Uzbekistan's
President Karimov paid official visits to India. The omission of Pakistan
from their itinerary must have provided additional satisfaction to New
Delhi.
The new thrust in India's foreign
policy became apparent after Kargil. Since then, India has made determined
efforts to improve relations with key Muslim countries by seeking to change
their perceptions of the relative importance of New Delhi and Islamabad.
A number of factors have helped India in making progress in that direction.
One of them is the sharp contrast the two rivals have presented to the
outside world in the recent past one moving ahead with stable democratic
institutions, high economic growth, moderate policies and a vibrant and
forward-looking civil society, while the other limping on, with repeated
interruptions in the democratic process, sinking economy, rampant corruption
at the highest level, flawed government policies and a civil society increasingly
becoming hostage to religious fanaticism and violence.
India's improved ties with the United
States and an emerging strategic relationship with Washington have also
helped it in making inroads into pro-western countries like Turkey, Indonesia,
Gulf states and Saudi Arabia.
A close look at the foreign policy
being pursued by the Vajpayee government will show that it has decisively
abandoned the "third-worldism", non-alignment and similar other enchanting
ideas of the Nehru era. New Delhi is now actively engaged in building a
credible coalition of big powers and regional actors to ensure regional
stability and security of sea lanes of the Indian Ocean.
Coming to New Delhi's diplomatic
barnstorming of the Islamic world, India is taking full advantage of the
increasing world-wide concern about the rise of Islamic extremism and its
perceived linkage with international terrorism. Until recently, the Arab
nations and Islamic states tended to dismiss terrorism as a problem of
the West only. But as terrorist activities began to threaten political
stability across the Arab and the Islamic world, the Indian propaganda
on religious extremism and terrorism has begun to pay dividends, with corresponding
damage to Pakistan's image.
Turkey, Egypt, Algeria and some
Central Asian states have been amongst the worst affected victims of terrorist
activities. Even Saudi Arabia has not been safe from major acts of terrorism
in the recent past. The Osama bin Laden factor has further complicated
the situation. It was for these reasons that the Arab League, for the first
time in many years, adopted a resolution last year condemning international
terrorism.
By acts of omission and commission,
Islamabad has facilitated New Delhi's task of striking common ground on
religious extremism and terrorism with the key countries of the Islamic
world, stretching from officially secular Algeria and Turkey to the deeply
religious Saudi Arabia and Iran. The reason is that all these countries
are increasingly concerned that the rise of religious fanaticism and militancy
may threaten their stability and security. It is ironical that Iran went
along with India during Vajpayee's recent visit to Tehran in condemning
inter-national terrorism "in all its forms" and castigating nations which
"aid, abet and directly support" international terrorism. This is despite
Tehran's support for Hazbollah in Lebanon, which has been declared a terrorist
organization by the United States.
By projecting the Taliban and their
only supporter, Pakistan, as "the principal sources of destabilization
in the region", New Delhi seems to be making progress in getting the support
of key Islamic countries for political moderation and restraint. What is
significant is that it is now reaching out to even those Islamic countries
Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey which were shunned by it in the past for
being pro-Pakistan in its conflict with Islamabad over Kashmir. This is
liable to bring India strategic dividends in the long run.
It is now apparent that Pakistan
has staked too much on its Afghan policy whose one objective has been to
prevent a Kabul-New Delhi nexus. But what we have ended up with is a Moscow-Washington-Tehran-Beijing-New
Delhi nexus aimed primarily against a perceived threat of Afghan militancy
but, by extension, adding to Pakistan's regional and international isolation.
It must have come as a surprise to Islamabad that the Chinese spokeswoman
Zhang Qiyue, when asked to comment on the Iranian foreign minister's statement
that India had a role in resolving the Afghan imbroglio, replied that China
welcomed all international efforts, including that of India, to bring peace
and stability to the war-torn Afghanistan.
Another important factor that is
helping India in establishing new economic and political relationships
is what Jaswant Singh has called "energy diplomacy." India has emerged
as one of the top five consumers of petroleum products in the world and
its dependence on imported oil and gas will rapidly increase in the coming
years. New Delhi is now trying to convert its dependence on Gulf oil and
gas into a source of strength rather than weakness. It is using its position
as one of the major markets for energy resources to build strong economic
and political ties with Saudi Arabia and Iran.
There is another important reason
for increasing Indian interest in Iran. With an eye on the oil and gas
reserves and economic potential of Central Asia, New Delhi is seeking access
to that region through Iran. As a first step, it has opened a consulate
at Bandar Abbas, Iran's main sea port.
Yet another reason for New Delhi's
intensive efforts to woo the Islamic world is to gain support for its candidature
for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. The issue of the Security
Council's expansion is likely to assume urgency in the near future and
the current diplomatic offensive is designed to blunt any possible Pakistani
campaign against India's candidature. Taking full advantage of Islamabad's
impaired image, because its domestic difficulties and external problems,
New Delhi is making determined efforts to turn a new leaf in its relations
with the key countries of the Islamic world.
The reason that Pakistan is being
gradually marginalized internationally is that its image as a stable, democratic,
moderate, progressive and forward-looking Muslim state has been considerably
damaged in recent times. The concern about the increasing clout of extremist,
fanatical and militant groups in Pakistan, threatening internal stability
and influencing government policies to an extent, is no longer confined
to the US, Russia and the European Union. It is now being increasingly
shared by moderate Muslim countries as well. The message for Islamabad
is loud and clear.
