Author:
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: March 3, 2010
URL: http://www.hindustantimes.com/editorial-views-on/edits/Shaking-off-Islamabad/Article1-514544.aspx
Bombers in Kabul blow a hole in India's largest
overseas aid programme. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits the country that
provides most of India's imported petroleum. Pakistan is the proverbial ghost
at the banquet in both cases. It seems likely that Taliban leader Sirajuddin
Haqqani was behind the Kabul attack that led to nine Indian deaths. Haqqani
carried out both the July 2008 and October 2009 attacks on the Indian embassy
in Kabul at the direct behest of the Pakistani military. Saudi Arabia is the
world's largest oil producer, has large reserves of natural gas, is geographically
next door, and manages its energy sector far more professionally than rivals
like Iran. Yet it has taken an Indian prime minister nearly three decades
to visit the Saudi kingdom. The Saudis are suspected to have a military -
even a nuclear - and strategic relationship with Pakistan. Islamic charities
in the Gulf country help fund militant causes in Pakistan, including the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba
(LeT). Mr Singh's visit came to be dominated by Indian hopes that Riyadh would
act as a curb on Pakistan's continued support for terrorism.
This reflects how restrictive Pakistan's violent
obsession with India has become to the foreign policy goals of Delhi. Among
larger nations, Afghanistan's populace is probably alone in giving India the
highest approval ratings of any country in the world. Yet India's relations
with that country are dominated by the quasi-war Pakistan is waging against
the present regime in Kabul. Islamabad tells the world it cannot give up on
the Taliban and the LeT because of India. Between terrorism and political
blackmail, Pakistan has ensured that Af-Pak remains tenuously hyphenated with
Pak-Ind.
A slightly different state of affairs exists
regarding Saudi Arabia. Saudi fears of Iranian domination led it to seek a
military deterrent. Pakistan was ready to be a nuclear gun for hire, especially
if the hiring included plenty of oil, money and backing for its militant groups.
Saudi Arabia would be a natural energy partner for India. But its strategic
need for a subterranean relationship with Islamabad has ensured a bilateral
wariness. India needs to disentangle its regional policy from Pakistan's net.
Providing support to the US deployment in Afghanistan would be an obvious
way to counteract Pakistan there. As is the development of an economic relationship
with Saudi Arabia to counterbalance its security ties with Pakistan. But more
systematic thought and strategic imagination is needed, one that cross-leverages
relations with other countries and eventually entangles Pakistan in a web
of India's making.
