India's poser to US: If you won't dump Pakistan, why should we jettison Iran?

Hyderabad
18 March 2012

As India negotiates the diplomatic minefield that is West Asia, questions are being asked of the government as to whether and how it could engage differently with Iran, Israel and Saudi Arabia, without having to taking sides or pick and choose one over the other.

New Delhi would have you believe that the overlapping tensions in West Asia, manifested in the Israel-Iran stand-off over the latter's nuclear ambitions, the proxy war being played out in Syria between a Shiite Iran and the Sunni-bloc led by Saudi Arabia, or more generally the competition between Saudi Arabia and Iran for supremacy, constrict India's options.

In an example of some nimble Indian diplomacy, the government despatched external affairs minister SM Krishna to Israel and defence minister AK Antony to Saudi Arabia in order to offset any adverse fallout from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's proposed visit to Iran later this year. However, the same government chose in its wisdom to support a UNSC resolution against Syria.

While there is merit in New Delhi's argument, an influential section of the Indian diplomatic community contends that the ongoing investigation into the attack on an Israeli envoy in New Delhi or the threat of US sanctions on Indian entities post-June 28 for not reducing oil imports from Iran should not deter the government from pursuing what it deems is in its enlightened national interest.

"The US not only does not choose between India and Pakistan but actually assists our adversary in many ways, so why should we forego our limited relationship with Iran for the sake of the US?" wondered Kanwal Sibal, a former foreign secretary.

"Do Iran and Saudi Arabia choose between us and Pakistan? If at all they have been historically closer to Pakistan than to us. If Iran's statements on Israel and the Holocaust are objectionable, the Wahabi ideology emanating from Saudi Arabia is objectionable too. We should safeguard our energy relationship with Iran as best as we can despite US and EU sanctions and the Arab position," Mr Sibal told this newspaper.

Increasingly, diplomats who have observed or served in the region insist that India's relationship with Iran should stand on its own feet and not linked to its relations with Saudi Arabia. They maintain that whatever the differences between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and the Shia-Sunni conflict that is building up, India does not need to take sides or feel compelled to choose.

They cautioned against a repeat of 2005 when New Delhi jettisoned its ties with Tehran in its narrow pursuit of the India-US nuclear deal. While some claim that Iran's rise as a regional power is inevitable, others cite the significance of Iran as land bridge to Afghanistan and beyond as a case in point.

India, Syria to hold talks

New Delhi

11 August 2007

India will review the situation in West Asia when she hosts Syrian

Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem next week. He will arrive in New Delhi on Monday for a

three-day visit.

Both sides are likely to discuss enhancement of political, economic and cultural

relations. The last visit by a Syrian foreign minister to India was in 2002. Union Minister

of Petromeum and Natural Gas Murli Deora was in Syria in April this year. Former prime

minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former minister of external affairs Jaswant Singh have

visited Syria. New Delhi has said that India and Syria have enjoyed ancient civilisational

ties and their ties were based on similarity of perception on many international and

regional issues.

Ambassador CR Gharekhan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Special Envoy for West

Asia and the Middle East Peace Process, told this newspaper: "It is an important visit.

Syria is an important player in the region. We have excellent bilateral relations with

Syria."

He said that bilateral matters, the situation in the region and the prospects for the peace

process would figure in Mr Mouallem's talks here.

"It is good to have a briefing [from] a veteran diplomat [who was] involved in the bilateral

negotiations with Israel [over] Golan Heights, when they talked directly in Washington.

He is an expert on the peace process," Ambassador Gharekhan recalled. Making a

distinction between India's ties with Syria and the ties other countries, including the

United States, have with Syria, he added: "India is in touch with all parties. It is normal

for us to interact with friendly countries."

In a rare diplomatic encounter, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Mr

Mouallem in May this year on the margins of an international conference on Iraq, which

was held in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. It was the first high-level diplomatic

contact between Washington and Damascus in more than two years. The US sees Syria

as a state sponsor of terrorism. Washington recalled its ambassador two years ago after

it accused Syria of having a hand in the assassination of former Lebanese rpt Lebanese

prime minister Rafik Hariri.