Saudi doublespeak hits India’s core interests - Indian Punchline
Wow! Shall I credit myself with a touch of prescience? After all, what I wrote about the visit of the Saudi Crown Prince and Defence Minister Salman bin Abdul Aziz’s visit to Pakistan last weekend was spot on. (See my article “Don’t ask what Saudi Arabia can do“).
The AFP just reported quoting Saudi sources that Riyadh is in talks with Islamabad “to provide anti-aircraft and anti-tank rockets to Syrian rebels to try to tip the balance of the war to overthrow [Syrian] President Bashar al-Assad.” (here)
But I won’t be triumphalist here, since this is a dangerous development that affects India’s core interests. Saudi Arabia is dealing a terrible blow to regional security by engaging Pakistan (’subcontracting’ might be the right word) in its jihadi enterprise in Syria.
Indeed, Pakistan is terribly unwise to get involved in the Saudi-Iranian, US-Russian proxy war or to dabble in the business of ‘jihad’ all over again when its own house is on fire.
And the most appalling thing is that the Barack Obama administration without whose concurrence King Abdullah won’t venture into this mad adventure, is being plainly diabolical.
WaPo’s David Ignatius disclosed two days ago that the CIA and the Saudi intelligence put their heads together recently in Washington to rev up the ‘jihad’ in Syria by supplying more sophisticated weapons to the rebels.
Of course, Delhi needs to be extremely watchful. Its naivete is incredible in underestimating the robustness of the Saudi-Pakistani fraternal ties. What an irony that Defence Minister A. K. Antony was persuaded to visit Riyadh to encourage the Saudis to invest in co-production in the Indian defence industry and to boost and give verve to ml-to-mil ties — and, lo and behold, within two years Riyadh prefers to strengthen Pakistan’s defence industry.
Why such willing suspension of disbelief on our part when it comes to Saudi Arabia? Unfortunately, the heart of the matter is that our domestic politics has crept into this template of our Gulf policy.
The plain truth is that the petrodollar oligarchies are exercising a larger-than-life influence on our corrupt political class. Partly at least, this accounts for the calibrated policy to gradually atrophy India’s relations with Shi’ite Iran in the recent years.
Hopefully, some balance will be restored under a BJP government.
In immediate terms, Salman is due to arrive in Delhi on a three-day visit on Wednesday. We should ascertain the details regarding his move to draw on Pakistani expertise in ‘jihad’ (a number of Pakistani ‘jihadis are are already fighting in Syria and Pakistan is also reportedly training the ‘jihadis’ recruited from other countries by Saudi intelligence for the war in Syria.)
The point is, Saudi Arabia has a gory record of being responsible for the induction of the forefathers of the al-Qaeda in this region during the 1980s. When the war in Syria gets over, will Saudi Arabia rehabilitate these battle-hardened Pakistani jihadis in Riyadh or Jeddah? This is a serious question.
For far too long, India has looked away from the harsh reality that Saudi Arabia is a state sponsoring terrorism, which uses ‘jihad’ as an instrument of policy to perpetrate terrorist acts in foreign countries. Delhi should speak up — unless it has lost its spine and Muslim politics in India trumps national security interests.
Make no mistake that Pakistan is immensely experienced in demanding and extracting its pound of flesh for such highly professional services rendered in the ‘jihad’ in Syria.
In the prevailing regional milieu, when the US and Saudi dependence deepens in the highly strategic enterprise to overthrow the Assad regime, they lose the moral and political standing to stop the Pakistani project to return the Taliban to power in Kabul. They will only see it as a small price to pay.
Wow! Shall I credit myself with a touch of prescience? After all, what I wrote about the visit of the Saudi Crown Prince and Defence Minister Salman bin Abdul Aziz’s visit to Pakistan last weekend was spot on. (See my article “Don’t ask what Saudi Arabia can do“).
The AFP just reported quoting Saudi sources that Riyadh is in talks with Islamabad “to provide anti-aircraft and anti-tank rockets to Syrian rebels to try to tip the balance of the war to overthrow [Syrian] President Bashar al-Assad.” (here)
But I won’t be triumphalist here, since this is a dangerous development that affects India’s core interests. Saudi Arabia is dealing a terrible blow to regional security by engaging Pakistan (’subcontracting’ might be the right word) in its jihadi enterprise in Syria.
Indeed, Pakistan is terribly unwise to get involved in the Saudi-Iranian, US-Russian proxy war or to dabble in the business of ‘jihad’ all over again when its own house is on fire.
And the most appalling thing is that the Barack Obama administration without whose concurrence King Abdullah won’t venture into this mad adventure, is being plainly diabolical.
WaPo’s David Ignatius disclosed two days ago that the CIA and the Saudi intelligence put their heads together recently in Washington to rev up the ‘jihad’ in Syria by supplying more sophisticated weapons to the rebels.
Of course, Delhi needs to be extremely watchful. Its naivete is incredible in underestimating the robustness of the Saudi-Pakistani fraternal ties. What an irony that Defence Minister A. K. Antony was persuaded to visit Riyadh to encourage the Saudis to invest in co-production in the Indian defence industry and to boost and give verve to ml-to-mil ties — and, lo and behold, within two years Riyadh prefers to strengthen Pakistan’s defence industry.
Why such willing suspension of disbelief on our part when it comes to Saudi Arabia? Unfortunately, the heart of the matter is that our domestic politics has crept into this template of our Gulf policy.
The plain truth is that the petrodollar oligarchies are exercising a larger-than-life influence on our corrupt political class. Partly at least, this accounts for the calibrated policy to gradually atrophy India’s relations with Shi’ite Iran in the recent years.
Hopefully, some balance will be restored under a BJP government.
In immediate terms, Salman is due to arrive in Delhi on a three-day visit on Wednesday. We should ascertain the details regarding his move to draw on Pakistani expertise in ‘jihad’ (a number of Pakistani ‘jihadis are are already fighting in Syria and Pakistan is also reportedly training the ‘jihadis’ recruited from other countries by Saudi intelligence for the war in Syria.)
The point is, Saudi Arabia has a gory record of being responsible for the induction of the forefathers of the al-Qaeda in this region during the 1980s. When the war in Syria gets over, will Saudi Arabia rehabilitate these battle-hardened Pakistani jihadis in Riyadh or Jeddah? This is a serious question.
For far too long, India has looked away from the harsh reality that Saudi Arabia is a state sponsoring terrorism, which uses ‘jihad’ as an instrument of policy to perpetrate terrorist acts in foreign countries. Delhi should speak up — unless it has lost its spine and Muslim politics in India trumps national security interests.
Make no mistake that Pakistan is immensely experienced in demanding and extracting its pound of flesh for such highly professional services rendered in the ‘jihad’ in Syria.
In the prevailing regional milieu, when the US and Saudi dependence deepens in the highly strategic enterprise to overthrow the Assad regime, they lose the moral and political standing to stop the Pakistani project to return the Taliban to power in Kabul. They will only see it as a small price to pay.
