India should rebuild ties with Arab world

The New Indian Express First Published : 04 May 2011 10:52:00 PM ISTLast Updated : 05 May 2011 12:28:13 AM IST
Unlike some of their counterparts in neighbouring Pakistan, the Muslims in India have reacted positively to the death of Osama bin Laden, who they saw as an ugly face of terror and not as a religious leader committed to the salvation of the community. While they did not exactly share the celebratory mood of United States and its western allies and even accused them of creating a Frankenstein, the elimination of al Qaeda’s leader has left them with a sense of relief. Both Shia and Sunni clerics hailed it as a major blow to terrorism and pointed out that Osama had defied and defiled Islam with his statements, prompting some to issue a fatwa against him.
Pakistan and its role in sheltering, funding and supporting crossborder terrorism came for bitter denunciation in the reaction of Indian Muslim religious leaders as well as intellectuals. Many of them supported Salman Rushdie’s demand that the international community declare Pakistan a terrorist state. Islamabad’s claim that it was unaware of Osama’s presence in Pakistan has been debunked and they fear that Pakistan will continue its support to crossborder terrorism against India.
This should serve notice to Indian politicians who have always manipulated the community for petty political considerations by using them as ‘vote banks’. Indian Muslims have, time and again, reiterated their faith in the democratic process and have shunned terrorism. In the light of the democracy movements in the Islamic countries, this should cause a rethink in the government’s approach toward the unrest underway in West Asia and North Africa. As a growing power, India needs to take this opportunity to rebuild its ties with the Arab world. The task is unenviable. While it is justified in waiting till credible interlocutors emerge in the region, its inability to empathise with forces that may decide Arab destinies in future would seriously circumscribe India’s policy options in the long run. The Muslim masses in this region became susceptible to the terrorist rhetoric only when their democratic options were foreclosed by colonial western powers. Now that the global landscape is changing, India should help in consigning religious fundamentalism to the dustbin of history.