Central Chronicle, January 14, 2006
Strengthening Ties: Saudi King as Republic Day guest in India
New Delhi's decision to invite King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to be the guest of honour at India's Republic Day celebrations later this month is not off the cuff but a considered one that has been in the works for quite some time. In the past, Saudi Arabia has been a source of irritation, if not trouble, to this country on several counts. In 1974 Riyadh went so far as to threaten to cut off oil supplies if India did not close down the Israeli consulate in Bombay (now Mumbai). Indira Gandhi paid no heed; the Saudis backtracked.
In other words, mutual stakes the two countries have in each other have usually prevailed. In recent years the trend has strengthened. Both sides have been trying to improve their relations - a development to be welcomed and promoted, considering the crucial importance of Saudi Arabia as a key country in a region vital to India. Moreover, forty per cent of oil we need comes from Saudi Arabia, and more than one and a half million Indians live and work in that country of 22 million where 60 per cent of the work force consists of foreigners. No less significant is the powerful attraction of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina to Indian Muslims.
Add to all this Saudi Arabia's mind-boggling wealth and the state of its economy that - according to a detailed survey by The Economist - "is doing almost too well for its own good", and that country's importance becomes manifest. The upwards swing in world oil prices adds to the Saudi clout.
For their part, the rulers of Saudi Arabia have been watching with interest rising India's great and growing significance in the world order. They could not have failed to notice that the US Secretary of State, Ms. Condoleezza Rice considers India - along with the US, European Union, Russia, Japan and China - a part of the Six-nation "balance of power" for peace and stability.
Even so, it would be naïve to expect that Indo-Saudi relations can ever be so close as those between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The extraordinary strength of the Riyadh-Islamabad connection is best indicated by the Saudi capacity to broker a deal between General Prevez Musharraf and the elected Prime Minister he overthrew in 1999, Mr. Nawaz Sharif, now in comfortable exile in Jeddah, along with his extended family. As part of the same deal, the Saudis are also able to ensure that Mr. Sharif does not travel out of the kingdom for ten years! A further measure of the bonds between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is that the Saudi Defence Minister, Prince Sultan, is the only foreigner - apart from Chinese nuclear scientists and officials - to be allowed to visit Kahuta, the nerve-centre of Pakistan's Bomb-building. It is also remarkable that the Saudis have said nothing about the disclosure of the infamous Pakistani scientist AQ Khan's supply of nuclear equipment and technology since 1987, with General Zia-ul-Haq's blessings, to Iran, the country of which Saudi Arabia is most apprehensive.
The reason for this is not far to seek. Saudi Arabia is rather possessive of the armed forces of Pakistan, which have never hesitated to serve it whenever required. Next only to the United States, on which Saudi Arabia's reliance for its security is almost total, Pakistan is its most dependable military ally.
Yet, even if Indo-Saudi relations can never be on par with the Saudi-Pakistan ties, there is absolutely no reason why this country's relationship with Saudi Arabia, dominated almost completely by the royal family, cannot be rescued from the inimical effect that Pakistan has had on them for a very long time, both bilaterally and at the OIC. For this purpose, King Abdullah, who ascended the throne only a few months ago, after the death of King Fahd, is unquestionably the best bet.
Even as Crown Prince during King Fahd's prolonged illness, he had made a mark as a ruler devoted to stability. It was he who had taken the initiative to negotiate a modus vivendi with Iran. When this arrangement appeared to be threatened after the victory in the recent Iranian elections of the hard-line Mr. Mhamoud Ahmedinejad, he again insisted on the past agreement on good relations with Iran being honoured. King Abdullah then extended unprecedented courtesy and hospitality to Iran's new president during his brief visit to Saudi Arabia.
On ascending the throne, King Abdullah took several steps to ease the excessive control of the security forces on the populace and the media, adding to his already considerable popularity. He released three prominent dissidents who had been thrown into jail for the crime of asking for a "constitutional monarchy".
He also ordered that the kingdom's little-observed National Day should henceforth be observed as a public holiday. "Conservative clerics", in The Economist's words, "complained of creeping secularism but ordinary Saudis loved it". No less popular was his decree that no one should kiss his hand any longer.
Above all this, Crown Prince Abdullah (as he then was) played the leading role - helped by his brother, Prince Nayef, the kingdom's Minister of the Interior since 1962 - to repair the crippling damage done by 9/11 to the overridingly crucial relationship with the United States. The Americans were enraged because 15 of those who converted civilian aircraft into missiles to destroy the twin-towers were Saudis. Since the spring of 2003 Saudi Arabia itself has become the target of terrorists. This has surely helped in so far as most Saudis have begun to be critical of jidhadi terrorism though the situation is not as simple as that. The complex reality is that total opposition to jihadi terrorism is incompatible with the long-held Saudi conviction that jihad is an integral part of Islam. King Abdullah is trying hard to clear this confusion, and this is clearly the nub of the matter.
Since 9/11 the U.S. has not leaned on Pakistan hard enough to end cross-border terrorism against India whatever the Pakistani record of help to the Americans in the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan and even in the tribal land of Waziristan on the Pakistan-Afghan border. But the weapon of American support in pursuit of its anti-India objectives is no longer available to it. In such circumstances, the Saudi backing to Pakistan assumes the greatest importance. In fact, without the Saudi money, even the ISI-sponsored jihadi terrorism cannot make much headway.
It should not be forgotten that the 9/11 Commission in the US, in its report, had devoted a full chapter to Pakistan, recommending that the US policy should be to ensure that Pakistan does become a "moderate Muslim State" and asking the President to submit to American Congress a detailed plan towards that end in six months. That was duly done in July and awaits Congressional action. Incidentally, there was in that report a chapter on Saudi Arabia, too, but the bulk of it was blacked about in the published report, which is understandable in view of the delicacy of the US-Saudi relations after 9/11.
It is in this context that King Abdullah's discussions with his Indian hosts, especially the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, would be of the prime importance. It should not be difficult to come to an agreement on no one helping terrorism irrespective of where it emanates from and on what pretext.
There is room also to ask for Saudi investments in this country. Saudi Arabia that has invested a gargantuan sum of a trillion dollars in the United States has hardly any investment worth the name in Indian industry or infrastructure. A huge amount of Saudi money has gone, however, to madrassas and mosques here. The needs of the Muslim community here might be better met if Saudi charity is directed to the minority institutions of modern education.
Inder Malhotra, Manuj Features
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