Saudi connect
Relations in the present are defined by interests comprising political and economic currents.
Prime minister Manmohan Singh committed a cardinal mistake in his address to Saudi Arabia’s Majlis-Al-Shura on Monday by stating that India seeks peaceful relations with Pakistan. The intention was to apparently tell the most influential Muslim country in the world — although many Muslims in the world will disagree with that assumption — that Pakistan is the troublemaker and India would be happy if Saudi Arabia would pressurise Pakistan. Saudi Arabia will not be able to do much to influence Pakistan although Islamabad and Riyadh are close. The Saudis are worried about the havoc Islamist terrorism is playing in Pakistan and this was made clear in Saudi foreign minister Saud bin Faisal’s interaction with Indian journalists on Sunday. Secondly, Singh talked about the 160 million Muslims in India and how they were making their mark in different spheres. Even if there was not a single Muslim in India, the Saudis would still be interested to do business with India. A majority of the Indian expatriates working in Saudi Arabia are not Muslims and yet the Saudis appreciate their contribution. It is rather silly to play the Muslim card because international relations are not based on common identities but on common interests. Civilisational bonds are valuable — Arab-Islamic, Turkish, Persian and Afghan strands have over a millennium enriched Indian heritage as during the Caliphates of classical Islamic history, the Indian influence on Arab intellectual flowering was fruitful. But relations in the present are defined by strategic interests comprising political and economic currents of the day.Arab countries have discovered in the last couple of years a new, economically vibrant India and they are keen to be partners in the new enterprise. Singh has indeed talked of opportunities that a booming Indian economy offers investors from Saudi Arabia. The Saudis are also looking to India as the big market for their oil and are watching with admiration India’s successful experiment with democracy. As with the United States, India must forge an independent relationship with Saudi Arabia and not seek to use the imagined good offices of either Washington or Riyadh to influence Islamabad. India in its turn must not allow itself to be pressurised by Washington or Riyadh in dealing with Pakistan.