Author: Swapan Dasgupta
Publication: The Telegraph
Date: September 12, 2003
URL: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1030912/asp/opinion/story_2355711.asp
Introduction: Sharon's visit to
India on the eve of 9/11 was deeply symbolic
It is not often that a bold foreign
policy initiative brings domestic faultlines to the fore. The truncated
visit of the feisty Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, did just that.
On the one hand was the silent applause of a self- confident India - not
least in the diaspora - impatient with the inherited baggage of the Cold
War and anxious to strike new alliances on the strength of shared values
and common interests. On the other hand were the antediluvian voices from
other centuries, a revealing combination of commissars and clerics.
The issue wasn't either the creation
of a Palestine state or the controversial past of the visitor. Coming as
it did on the eve of the second anniversary of 9/11, Sharon's two-day visit
was deeply symbolic. It pointed to India's mental willingness to transform
itself from a passive victim of terrorism to becoming an active combatant
in the war against terror. The transition, needless to say, is still woefully
incomplete. Yet, the very fact that a previously undercover relationship
which, incidentally, dates back to Rajiv Gandhi's premiership, is now being
flaunted is itself significant. In the past, India's relationship (rather,
non-relationship) with Israel was governed by local Muslim sentiment -
"Palestine has become the global symbol of Islamic victimhood" - and a
fear of Arab retribution. Fortunately, national interests have bypassed
sectarian concerns and ties with Israel have been taken beyond the purview
of a hyphenated relationship.
Israel's importance doesn't merely
stem from either its acknowledged expertise in counter-terrorism or its
reliability as a supplier of sophisticated weaponry. It is, after Britain,
the foremost ally of the United States of America. Developing special strategic
ties with Israel is tantamount to accepting a role in the complex chain
of relationships that define Pax Americana. The Israeli deputy prime minister,
Yosef Lipid, stated this quite explicitly on Wednesday: "There is American
support for this unwritten axis." Unless domestic political upheavals unsettle
the process, there is a likelihood of Washington's energies being complemented
by a concordat of democracies in which New Delhi, Jerusalem and, hopefully,
Ankara, play important roles.
For India and its enterprising diaspora,
there is an additional benefit. A vibrant relationship with Israel opens
the doors for a strategic partnership with the highly influential Jewish
lobby in the US. If carefully nurtured, it could end up as a mutually rewarding
marriage between old and new money, with Indians providing the energy and
numbers, and Jews the political clout and networking expertise. A working
relationship has already been established - as evident from the remarkably
forthright speech of the principal secretary, Brajesh Mishra, to the annual
American Jewish Congress dinner in Washington last May - and Sharon's visit
will help it acquire greater momentum. Indeed, the cementing of Indo-Jewish
links at the community level should now be the priority of Indian diplomats
in the US and, for that matter, in Britain. The spin-off benefits for both
countries are potentially very high.
At the end of the day, however,
opportunities are what the players make of them. Prior to the 9/11 attacks
in New York and Washington, India's fulminations against terror attacks
in Jammu and Kashmir by jihadis from the Afghanistan war were hardly heeded.
On the contrary, during the first administration of President Bill Clinton,
US officials actively encouraged separatist forces like the Hurriyat Conference
and even turned a blind eye to the taliban menace in Afghanistan. Today,
the mood in the US is different. There is a realization that Islamist terror
groups, whether they go by the name of al Qaida, Hamas, Hizbollah or Harkat-ul-Ansar,
are linked by a common antipathy to everything Western civilization holds
dear. The avowed zero tolerance of terrorism is as much governed by the
need to defend a way of life as with homeland security.
For India and, for that matter,
Israel, Osama bin Laden is in many ways an unintended saviour. What was
hitherto a lonely battle has caught the American imagination. It is inconceivable,
for example, that the humiliation heaped on India by the hijackers in Kandahar
- in league with the taliban - on the last day of 1999 will be repeated.
Then, the US was half-hearted in pressuring the authorities in Dubai to
prevent the hijacked aircraft from taking off. Today, we are more likely
to witness a US-sponsored replica of the audacious Israeli rescue at Entebee.
Israel has been quick to grasp the change in environment. Always robust
in its techniques of retaliation, it has now perfected the art of pro-active
counter-terrorism. The "targeted killings" of Hamas leaders may trigger
more suicide bombers and a self-perpetuating cult of martyrdom, but in
the diplomatic arena the pressure is on Yasser Arafat to dismantle terror
groups as a precondition to meaningful talks on a separate Palestine state.
"No dialogue with terrorists" has become an accepted principle of international
relations.
If India had grasped this instantly,
its response to the post-9/11 world would have been more sure-footed. Despite
periodic assertions of fighting the terrorist problem on its own, New Delhi
has always looked to others to facilitate a solution. It has looked to
Washington to tighten the screws on General Pervez Musharraf, just as it
is now looking to Israel to revolutionize counter-terrorism strategies
within the country. Just as the liberation of Afghanistan from the taliban
menace was secured through nominal investment in the Northern Alliance
and no physical involvement in the war, there is a fond hope that something
similar will recur in Pakistan. An America, exasperated by the shenanigans
of the Inter-services Intelligence in Afghanistan and elsewhere, will,
it is hoped, finally crack down hard on Pakistan and thereby put an end
to our jihadi problem.
It may yet happen that way but there
is little point believing that low investment will invariably fetch abundant
returns. Strategic relationships are not built on gestures alone; their
success depends equally, as the Israeli delegation stressed repeatedly,
on reciprocity. India has enormous expectations from Israel and so does
Israel from India. Yet, the process will not be assisted if the supply
of the Phalcon radar system is accompanied by India maintaining its dismal
record of voting for anti-Israel resolutions in the United Nations.
At the heart of the matter is India's
imperfect transition from being a weak state to a nuclear power. The dreary
extension of the hand of friendship to slippery dictators isn't only born
out of conviction and temperament. As Robert Kagan has explained in his
Paradise and Power, a lucid account of the US-Europe rift, tolerance is
the only realistic response of weakness. America invoked it till the end
of World War I when Europe called the shots militarily. Today, the boot
is on the other foot with "old Europe", quite understandably, turning its
back on its own history.
To translate the inspiring language
of Wednesday's joint statement, therefore, necessitates a mindset change
in India. It is neither desirable nor practical for India to emulate the
anti-terrorism strategies of Israel. Expediency, however, demands that
the new relationship with Israel is elevated to the level of a genuine
strategic partnership. At the end of the day, both countries are keen that
a successful war against terrorism cannot be fought without the participation
of the only country whose definition of national interest is not circumscribed
by geography. That means persuading Washington that our war is their war
too. Conversely, it implies demonstrating that their war is our war too.
New York, Washington, Jerusalem,
Hebron, Srinagar, Mumbai. We are in it together.
