Shiban Khaibri
It goes without saying that Modi Government has made an enviable impact on International diplomacy, pursued a tested foreign policy and made sincere efforts in developing relations with almost all countries in its two years of office braving all challenges including from within, however, as usual there has been no apparent notable improved relations with Pakistan excepting a brake on intermittent border violations and unprovoked firing on our border posts and civilian population. That could be possible only by giving a resounding reply to their habitual border (mis)adventures. Pakistan could have not afforded not to respond positively to Indian friendly relations in the spirit of mutual trust and co-operation, had it not been getting support from China after bribing it from time to time with commercial indulgence in areas of PoK and even “gifting” certain areas to it which though occupied by Pakistan, are the areas legally originally belonging to India.
There were, as expected, many a reaction from within the country from a few opposition parties mainly by “secular” Congress that the Prime Minister could not afford to visit any Muslim country. He however, successfully visited more than anyone could expect. It is worth noting that India , as a matter of its foreign policy, has always been very friendly with Afghanistan due to cultural, commercial and civilization(al) ties with it and has been keen to see a new Afghanistan born after the 9/11 fallout . Narinder Modi, in this direction took required steps towards helping Afghanistan emerge as a rejuvenated nation economically as well as politically after it was harmed immensely due to patronizing and sponsoring Taliban movement by Pakistan which has been surviving mainly on obscurantist ideologies and medieval fundamentalist way of life. It is another thing – to quote Hillary Clinton’s famous words “not to keep snakes in the backyard as they won’t bite your neighbours ONLY “, that Pakistan had itself to take on Taliban terrorists and kill many of them in army combats near border areas of Afghanistan when it felt exactly how the “pet” snakes did not spare them too . Now the reins of Taliban, therefore, no longer are with the Pakistani establishment. Modi’s visit to Afghanistan in December 2015 cemented the two countries’ ties further when inaugurating the Afghan Parliament which was built by India, Modi said that India was to contribute and not compete in Afghanistan and the Parliament complex was a small tribute “to your progress as a nation and as a democracy”. He further announced that India would give 500 scholarships to children of Afghan security forces martyred by the Taliban forces.
India wants to be more involved in the developmental process of Afghanistan and to strengthen its democratic institutions much to the discomfiture of Pakistan and it was long felt to have more direct access to that country which was otherwise possible through Pakistan only. Modi’s recent visit to Iran has been very significant, so much so that it is felt both by Pakistan and China to be “detrimental” to their joint hegemonic overtures in the region. The two countries signed as many as 12 agreements beneficial for both the countries as well as for Afghanistan. The most important among them is about signing of a pact to developing of the strategically located Chabahar port for which India would provide $500 million or Rs. 3400 crore. This is by all an economic and commercial strategic mile stone in the whole gamut of bi-lateral relations. Development of Chabhar port and related infrastructure will have a long term effect on trade and commerce and it is worth noting that at the instance of Modi , the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was also present in Tehran as the port would open the transit route to Afghanistan as well as Central Asia for Indian goods and commodities, completely bypassing Pakistan. How Afghanistan stands benefitted can be seen as this port would provide Kabul an alternative port to the city of Karachi. This port was aimed at bringing the three countries, India, Iran and Afghanistan closer to one another challenging the hegemony of China in the region which along with Russia had made strong foothold in Iran following sanctions by the US and the EU much to the dislike of Iran. The Prime Minister during his two days visit did not miss the opportunity to declare that the “agreement will strengthen our ability to stand against those whose only motto is to maim and kill innocents” sending veiled signals to Pakistan to put an end to state sponsored terrorism against this country and held the view that the port would provide Afghanistan with an effective and a more friendly route to trade with the rest of the world. The agreement was not merely economic and commercial in nature but a masterstroke by the Prime Minister in that it is political and a regional document as well. Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee had, as back as in 2003, underlined the strategic importance of establishing a port in Chabahar during President Khatami’s visit to this country to get rid of the willful transit delays by Pakistani authorities at Karachi port, especially in respect of sensitive items of defense and allied sectors. The project never moved ahead after the NDA lost the elections in 2004.
The Iran visit by Modi Ji was quite timely; the ground for it had been made more explicit earlier with Ms. Sushma Swaraj’s Tehran visit in mid – April where she had laid more stress on enhancing energy cooperation and development of the Chabhar port. Modi’s visit also heralds the renewed pledge to combat terrorism and more so radicalization which was fuelling terror and reminded Iranian President Hassan Rouhani about sharing a crucial stake in peace, stability and prosperity of the region and also about sharing concerns at the spread of forces of instability, radicalism and terror in the region. Trilateral agreement on transport and transit corridor was signed by all the three countries which could alter the course of the history of the region. The sanctions imposed by the US and the European Union on Iran were lifted in January this year but India showed its grit by not getting influenced by the imposed sanctions and maintained its relations with Iran and kept buying oil from it resisting the US pressure. India, therefore, firmly stood by Iran during its hour of crisis. Iran, as we know, is the second largest supplier of natural gas and we have more hydrocarbon needs as a fast developing economy and Iran could prove an important and a reliable source. The country is optimistic in getting largely benefitted as we are supposed to save on freight charges as well as comparative cost from oil imports from Iran.
Chabahar located nearly 1800 Kms south of Tehran will facilitate India’s direct entry into Afghanistan and as such Pakistan’s position in terms of India’s access into Afghanistan for trade, commerce, joint ventures and infrastructural building shall neutralize Pakistan’s influence of whatever small magnitude, Taliban -Pakistan nexus shall be rattled .
Pakistan’s Gwadar port nearly 80 Kms far from Chabahar port, developed by China to show off its assertive presence in the Indian Ocean and being used by China for over 40 years for military purposes shall be rendered as “balanced” by the presence of India in Chabahar to monitor activities in Persian Gulf. Not only China shall join Pakistan in sharing the jolts of Chabhar but even Riyadh could follow suit. Terminal and cargo berths, when built at a cost of $200 million, shall further develop the port. Additional amount of $16 billion could be invested in Chabahar free trade zone. The provision of a 500 km rail line shall be laid between Chabahar and Zahedan built with Indian collaboration. For Iran too, developed Chabahar port has the potentiality to broad base and expand its trade and economic partners. We could not do better at Bandar Abbas in Iran than at Karachi because of the distance factor hence the importance of Chabahar which is nearer to Gujarat in west coast. Pakistan, as per its basis of coming into existence, being to keep harming India has been putting spokes in the wheel of our efforts to link this country with central Asia and beyond because of refusal to access their land which was united India’s, till 1947, adversely affecting our trade and economic relations with Iran, Afghanistan and central Asia and this port shall revive our historic trade relations by better and easy connectivity.
India’s policy under the leadership of Modi towards maintaining balanced relations individually with a complex combination of UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Israel is to be seen to develop further to result in more commerce and trade and develop similarity of views on complex issues like terrorism. In the meantime, Pakistan stands bypassed which makes it increasingly restless, its patron China feels staved; thanks to Chabahar port project vis-a vis Indian foreign policy.
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