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 Shia 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 S.M. Krishna to Israel and defence minister A.K. Antony to Saudi Arabiain order to offset any adverse fallout from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s proposed visit to Iran later 2012. 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.