India’s Achilles heel: Muslim nations bias

All this goes back to Jawaharlal Nehru, who invented the non-aligned movement as a hedge against future colonisation. Whereas the world has changed dramatically in these 60 years, India’s policies are still clung to the rear-view mirror. We are living in a world that isn’t there. The mirage is not in the deserts of Arabia, but in Parliament.

By Amarjit Singh

The Indian Parliament’s bias towards Arab nations and its condemnation of Israel in the recent Lebanese conflict goes to show how misplaced India is in its world attachments, and how faulty its emotional leanings. Nothing could have gone down more as testimony of India sleeping with its
enemies than its long-standing support of Arab Street. For six decades, India has supported the Arab world, and for six decades the Arab world has opposed it.

On the one hand, we support the Arab world in its war against Israel because we seek to support the seemingly colonised Third World. All this goes back to Jawaharlal Nehru, who invented the non-aligned movement as a hedge against future colonisation. Whereas the world has changed
dramatically in these 60 years, India’s policies are still clung to the rearview mirror. We are living in a world that isn’t there. The mirage is not in the deserts of Arabia, but in Parliament.

We have hitherto supported “Arabia” against Israel because we have held the West responsible for the creation of Israel. In fact, any problem in Asia is still quickly ascribed to its former colonial powers whenever possible. The hatred that many Indians, especially those of the older generation, have against the white skin should be quickly dissolved.

First of all, let’s get it straight that the West has no plans or intentions to come back to colonise India. If anything, we should fear our close neighbour China and the Muslim nations who we ardently support at the United Nations.

Not once has any Muslim nation supported India in its wars against Pakistan. Even though we have leaned backwards to accommodate the Muslim nations in every respect, from Indonesia and Malaysia to Algeria and Morocco, they have consistently backed Pakistan in every war with India, no matter that India has the world’s third largest Muslim population after Indonesia and Pakistan. Today, even Bangladesh, which we‘liberated’, harbours terrorists and one day hopes to have a Greater Bangladesh that covers Assam, and speaks against India at international fora.

In 1965, Iran supplied F-86 Saber jets to Pakistan for use against India. In 1971, Iran and Saudi Arabia had their fighter aircraft on standby for Pakistan. When push comes to shove, the Muslim nations vote against India vis-à-vis Pakistan and Kashmir at the United Nations. There is nothing we can ever do to placate them. Will we ever recognise that?

Libya’s Muammar Qadhafi told an audience at the Qadhafi cricket stadium in Pakistan in 1974 that his “country was willing to sacrifice its blood if Pakistan were ever threatened”. Saudi Arabia not only provides free oil to Pakistan in exchange for a nuclear umbrella, but a former Pakistani ambassador to Saudi Arabia claimed that “the Saudis regard Pakistan as a trustworthy friend who will come to Saudi Arabia’s assistance whenever the occasion arises”. When Pakistan exploded its atom bombs at the Chaggai Hills in 1998, Iran’s foreign minister congratulated Pakistan and said, "Now, Muslims can feel confident because a fellow Islamic nation possesses the know-how to build nuclear weapons.” Last year, Iran offered nuclear knowhow to any nation interested, thus encouraging potential nuclear proliferation. None of this is healthy for the wellbeing of the world.
We complain about discrimination in the West to explain our foreign policy. Yes, there is subtle racism practised in the West, but have you observed the racism in the Muslim nations? In Malaysia, for instance, it is legal to give first preference to Muslim Malays in all job applications, even though there are citizens of other religions and ethnic origins in that country. In Kuwait, a Kuwaiti attempting to forcefully convert the religion of a non-Muslim will not be hauled up in court
for assault—such behaviour being sanctioned by them. The list goes on—with Saudi Arabia, and some others, practising religious intolerance and discrimination. These are not the hallmarks of temperance or tolerance. Virtually every Muslim nation is dictatorial or autocratic, or has had a troubled history of authoritarian rule.

Israel, on the other hand, has always been sympathetic of the Indian situation against its neighbours. Its sympathy has extended for six decades – something to think about. Do we value those who support us, or those who stab us in the back? Perhaps we have a deathwish, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that really were our true subconscious state. We must control our sentiments empathy for the poor Arabs of the world, though now many of them are rich. We must now do what is
in the pride and interests of India.

Our support of Iran in recent years is highly misplaced, although our revised approach to its nuclear weapons programme is somewhat commendable. Iran has never been our friend. It warmed up to us only lately because it holds the contempt of the world. Its drive to nuclear ambition threatens to disrupt the regional power balance, which is for no good to India. What’s worse, Iran has cosied up to China.

However, something is seriously a problem in India that could prevent us from being rational – we sleep on the job. We were caught sleeping in the 1948, 1962, 1965, and during the Kargil war. We were sleeping in 1955-57 when China took Aksai Chin; we were in such slumber that we don’t even know the year China took Aksai Chin, let alone the month and day. We were dreaming while awake in 1972, when we withdrew from captured territories in Kashmir and Pakistan and returned 93,000 prisoners of war for nothing in return. We are still sleeping with our support of Lebanon, which harbours militants related to Iran and the Lashkar-e-Toiba.

India needs to wake up and do things to butter its own bread. There is no use in supporting nations when those very nations either threaten us or don’t support us. India can change the world if it assumes a righteous leadership.

(Amarjit Singh is a professor at the University of Hawaii, Honolulu)