India’s opening as Iran sanctions lifted
The US-led sanctions against Iran have been lifted following years of tortuous negotiations between Washington and its allies, Britain, France and Germany, and the two other major powers, Russia and China. Under the deal, Iran will cap its nuclear programme to exclude the manufacture of a nuclear weapon, the process to be strictly monitored by international inspectors. There has been relief and joy in Iran, and welcomed in most corners of the world, barring the Israeli government of Prime Minister Netanyahu, the Republican party leadership in the United States, and the Saudi monarchy. Iran has long been an obsession with Mr Netanyahu, one that was ridiculed by his own intelligence chiefs in Mossad and Shinbet. Republican party backwoodsmen in the United States are rarely at peace unless their country is at war: witness the desolation of Iraq, Syria, Libya and Afghanistan created by the Republican administration of George W. Bush. Iraq was bombed, invaded and destroyed in the futile search for Saddam Hussain’s non-existent weapons of mass destruction; and it is more than likely that Iran was telling the truth in its denial of ever having a plan to acquire nuclear weapon capability. Truth, alas, is the first casualty of war, hence a largely sceptical international community limped behind Washington’s diktat for fear of being sanctioned. The country that purloined nuclear weapon technology in the West and was rendered critical aid, then gifted a readymade nuclear device was Pakistan’s “all weather friend,” China. This has been well documented in a number of authoritative publications, yet neither Pakistan nor its benefactor, China, has been called to account. It was Iran that was placed on the dock for reasons that are beyond the scope of our present discussion.
India’s relationship with Iran is vital on a number of counts, the first of which stems from Iran’s role as a global and regional energy supplier. India was forced to cut its imports of Iranian oil and curtail its trade and investments with that country because of the sanctions regime. The elimination of this enforced anomaly permits India and Iran to plan a new economic and strategic partnership. Both countries have patiently awaited the arrival of a new regional order. With this now in place, they can move forward with the development of the Iranian port city of Chabahar, located at the terminus of the Persian Gulf, within easy reach of the Shia-populated region of western Afghanistan through a rail network. A rail hub at Chabahar will open a crucial link to Central Asian markets for Indian goods and services, and those of Iran, thence to Armenia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) including Kazakhstan, Belarus and the Russian Federation [See page 12 for Prime Minister Modi’s tour of Central Asia].Furthermore, an Eurasian Economic Union is taking shape under Russian leadership, to which has been invited to join. The possibility of Indian membership will shortly come under close scrutiny by Indian and Russian experts working together.
This is a significant aspect of Mr Modi’s foreign policy. Its fulfillment will require a closer integration of the BRICS economies including an expanding reach of the BRICS Bank. With Iran freed of its previous fetters, one cannot exclude the possibility of it joining BRICS, so giving the group additional weight in the world. A new BRIICS with Iran on board may be something for the future, but it is no pipedream. Indeed, the omens are promising. Iran’s Ambassador to India Gholamreza Ansari, told reporters in New Delhi of India’s active cooperation with Tehran during the West’s sanctions regime. Iran was now prepared to show its appreciation by “welcoming Indians [investors], even without the bidding process.” He revealed that Prime Ministers Modi and Rouhani had discussed major projects during their meeting in Ufa on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, with the development of Chabahar on top of the list of priorities.
The Greek economic meltdown and the contentious German-led bailout point to a problematic Eurozone, and to the increasing fragility of the European Union. In this context, a closer India-Iran alignment on the international chessboard opens inviting opportunities, in the longer-term, for the evolution of an improved equitable global order - a goal worthy of enthusiastic support, whose time will surely come.
ISIL, Laskar, Pakistan flags at Srinagar demonstration
Anti-India speeches and demonstrations in the jihadi-infested districts of the Kashmir Valley have long been a ritual among the faithful following Friday prayers in local mosques. Their intensity last week, however, was a new and disturbing development, with ISIL brazenly held aloft with those of Pakistan, the Laskar-e-Toiba, accompanied by anti-Indian hate speeches and incendiary slogans lending a combustible dimension to the proceedings that don’t bode well for an enduring peace in the State. The Friday in question was Al Quds Day and the last day of Ramadan. The zealots had much to celebrate, beginning with the liberation of Jerusalem and the intensification of the struggle against Israel, the establishment of an independent Islamic Palestine, plus the expected call for the expulsion of India from Kashmir. Many of the demonstrators were teenagers flexing their adolescent muscles with bursts of stone throwing at the police and paramilitary forces. The more things change the more they remain the same is a time-tested French saying. The senior politicians hope to keep insure political lives alive, but beyond the inebriated demands for azadi or independence and the infantile stone throwing nothing useful was achieved. An Islamic Kashmir, independent or allied to Pakistan, will surely lead to a second ethnic cleansing of the remnants of the State’s Hindu Pandit population. The waving of ISIL flags may even signal the intent to commit atrocities against unbelieving infidels in the prescribed ISIL manner, as demonstrated on camera in the Middle East and North Africa. Orchestrated assaults with bullets and bombs from across the Pakistan border are, calculated, no doubt, to increase the pressure on India to submit to the jihadi diktat will continue to be an exercise in futility. Hurriyat leaders are much given on Indian Independence Day or Republic Day to writing prolix pieces as guest columnists in Indian newspapers, begin their discourse on an emollient note; this soon gives way to blood-curdling threats of vengeance against a perceived feeble Indian adversary. The delusional farce has frayed cat the edges through constant repetition. Time to end the farce.
Rotting state of Indian cricket
Indian cricket is in an advanced state of decomposition and the stink covers the entire country. The symptoms of decay are recorded in a recent Supreme Court judgment on the malfeasance among senior administrators in the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) clubs in the Twenty/20 Indian Premier League (IPL). Both clubs have been banned from the tournament for two years. Where the game of cricket in India goes from here is anybody’s guess, but money and greed have led to this sorry pass. The true and enduring test of skill for an international cricketer is the Test match against high class opponents. The ODI or the Twenty/20 format do require quick silver adeptness minus the test of endurance, which is the hallmark of the five-day game. If this were not so, we would be toasting the Australian batsman Michael Bevan and not the peerless Don Bradman as the supreme exponent of the art of batsmanship. India’s record against the top Test teams has been poor at home and abysmal abroad. But the same faces who have regularly failed the test in this most demanding form of the sport keep reappearing as stars in a bad film. A quick fire 30 or 40 is extolled by a craven media in contrived applause as part of the registered racket. The ability to score a hundred, double or triple hundred when the need arises is what counts in the team results and not momentary pleasure or the passing thrill. The Indian cricket board’s lack of ambition is subject to indecent exposure in its lack of attention to the eternal verities of cricketing quality. The selectors reflect these twisted values in the men they choose to trust in national colours. The wonderful Ashes series on display at Lord’s is a riveting spectacle for true lovers of this great and wonderful game. Indian cricket mandarins prefer the tawdry circus.
